Own Little World
by Draenog Glas Memorial
Summary: SCRAPPED. Sonic's soul has suddenly disappeared due to the return of Dark Gaia on the planet, and as a result, he has to journey inside his own mind in order to get it back. An old story that's not good at all.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes: This is an old, OLD story I wrote a long time ago, back when my writing wasn't very good at all. I deleted it from my main account because I feel it's really not good at all to be put on it, but for those of you that wished to see this story again for some reason, I will add it into the Memorial account.**

**Reviews aren't really necessary. I know even if I got a lot of support I wouldn't do a fic like this anymore. I would have to write the whole thing all over again if I wanted to make it good.**

He was drowning. And paralyzed. He couldn't swim up to the surface. He wasn't sinking, either. He was at a standstill, doing nothing but staring at the sky helplessly. He wasn't sure how much longer he could stay here. It was definite that he would die here if he didn't get himself to the surface sooner. His eyes looked at the sides of the sea. He could see a few blue whales passing by him, moaning a sorrowful song. Otherwise, the sea was completely empty; a deserted blue wasteland. Well, if he was going to die, he might as well have somebody come up with a sad tune for his death. And at least he had room for his grave. He didn't know how he was floating in the middle of the ocean's depths. It was so sudden that he was here, dying. He could only shut his eyes and contemplate on his death.

_Life begins...at the end..._

Was he suddenly hearing voices? No doubt, it could be the lack of oxygen. He just thought he heard some god-like voice telling him some nonsense he didn't understand. He began to think again. He lived a full life. Maybe he'll go to hedgehog heaven, a world where he could run all day and eat...well, mostly cat food. Hopefully they had chili dogs for him.

_Life begins...at the end of the sea..._

Again with the voice! He thought. He didn't need to hear a voice telling him more nonsense as he lied on his death bed. He couldn't speak, but he said in his mind, _Hey, can you not talk right now, voice in my head? Can't you see that I'm dying?_

_Life begins...anew with the sea. The sea begins life and can end life. Everything begins...and ends...with the sea._

Well, here it is. His death. He felt his last breath escape from his mouth. It was over. He didn't live his life regretting everything. That was how somebody should really live. Saving the world several times and all…He thought it was too bad that no one would find his body, it being in the middle of the sea, but he thought he would possibly die without his body to put in a grave anyways.

But of course, this didn't actually happen. Or else this story would be really boring.

He suddenly felt a warm sensation creeping up his body. As if he was given life. He gasped, able to breathe again, sputtering a few times as too much oxygen entered his lungs. He no longer felt or saw the sea. Instead, a light shade of pink as he felt something soft and was what seemed to be inside of a pink bubble, and when he was done coughing and wheezing and had enough oxygen to breathe normally, his eyes were met with a giant fish-like creature.

He could not count the many eyes that laid across his face. He had many sharp rows of jagged teeth jotting out of his mouth, and his fins were so large that they nearly reached the bottom of the ocean, and were beautiful, unlike his face. They were like strands of an angel's hair, reaching out and rippling as if it were a flag. They nearly touched the bubble he was inside.

He didn't know what was going on. He was drowning in the sea, and now he was staring at a fish that was somewhat pretty and somewhat ugly, while inside a pink bubble. But yet he felt somewhat ashamed looking at this creature. As if he wasn't worthy to look at his thousand eyes. But yet he continued to watch this creature head on, like he wasn't afraid of it at all.

"I am...Alpha," the fish said slowly, as if he was speaking to someone who was mentally impaired. He gazed at him intently, as if he was awaiting a response from him.

"And I am...Omega." He looked behind him to see yet another million eyed fish, except it was black, its eyes filled with nothing but rage, even more jagged teeth, and its fins were coarse and ripped. He determined that this was the end of...whatever he was in. He was between the one who creates and gives life, and the one who destroys and kills. The other fish also gawked at him with its angry eyes.

"We are the beginning and the end. The sea will create and destroy. It is the mother of this world. It will give life to this world as it emerges and will destroy it as it slaps its destructive and nurturing hands across this world," they both spoken at once, their voices in tune with each other. He was looking at Alpha, as he couldn't stand to look at Omega any longer due to its maddening demeanor.

"So are both of you...gods?" he finally spoke, voice shaking a bit. He was extremely confused, mixed with fear. Alpha's many eyes resumed eyeing him, making him even more anxious.

"No," he replied, once again talking in a snail's pace. "We are merely the sea's messengers. However, I do hold a world inside of me. So does Omega. I hold a world filled with joy, excitement, and love. Omega holds a world filled with anger, hate, and sorrow."

"O...okay..." He said apprehensively, also a bit weirded out by Alpha's explanation. "What is this place? Do you know? Why am I here?"

Alpha frowned. "I am afraid at this present moment, Sonic, that your mind has been flooded. It is like a biblical flood, dominating over everything. You are here, in Never Ending Sea, about to witness the birth of a new world..."

"What do you mean, 'my mind has been flooded'? Do you mean I'm..." his eyes got wider, as he came to a sudden realization. "...inside my own mind? What happened? Did I die and this is heaven or hell, or purgatory, or..."

"Sonic, I cannot tell you what happened, as I do not know much about the Outer Realms. But yes, you are inside 'your mind'. Do you know what caused this great flooding in the first place? The Outer Realms affects Never Ending Sea."

He thought about what happened before he was somehow here. He couldn't remember much. He knew that the last thing that happened was that he went on a run and suddenly, nothing. He shrugged.

"I see," Alpha nodded. "You seem to have lost some memory. But you still remember the essential things in your life, which I know, for I hold the remnants of the old world inside me. But something major must've happened that caused this."

"Now hold on a minute, is this going to be one of those deals where I have to go on a journey inside my mind and discover who I really am and all that? Those kinds of things that these mind books always say they'll help you do?"

"Hmm...I guess so. There is more to you than you think, Sonic."

"I already know who I am. I don't need to go on this epic journey to rescue my mind or anything like that. Can you please take me back to the 'Outer Realms', or reality or whatever, so I can go back to my life?"

"_No!_" Omega screeched, showing off his thousands of large, prickly teeth.

"If I did that, Sonic, you would be dead. For you have no soul, no personality, and no constitution of any kind. You might as well go on this 'journey'."

"But...why? I want to get back to my life, not learn what I already know!"

Alpha nodded once more. "I understand, Sonic. But once you go through these lands and gain back your soul, this land will be reborn, and then you can go. But I am afraid that this is in your power, not mine."

"Fine," Sonic spat, still annoyed about the predicament he was in.

"Which world do you want to go in? I recommend mine, as it's much easier. Omega's world is something you shouldn't touch yet."

"Alright, I'll go with your suggestion. The quicker, the better," Sonic replied.

Alpha nodded slowly, and then he lunged at the bubble. Sonic didn't have enough time to yell as Alpha closed its jaws around the bubble and swallowed him whole.


	2. Chapter 2

Sonic thought that Alpha has really tricked him, deciding to have him for a meal and that he was inside his stomach. However, he could see an island and a clear yellow sky above the water. Alpha did indeed tell the truth: he was inside a different world. The problem was, unfortunately, Sonic still could not swim. He thrashed about; trying to reach the surface of the sea, but this was only making him sink even deeper. He thought that he already failed his quest and was ready to accept defeat until a hand reached out and pulled him from the waters.

He was thrown into what seemed to be a wooden floor, coughing and spitting out sea water from his mouth. He once again inhaled more air excessively as he heard a "Wow! A blue hedgehog! We don't get those very often, actually, never!"

He looked behind him. He saw that he was on the deck of a boat, with a woman who was wearing a red, ragged shirt and thick black pants. She had short, gleaming scarlet hair and light blue eyes that stared intensely at him. She was short, but still taller than him. She also wore a tear-shaped gem around her neck and had a sword beside her, but it was tucked away.

"Thank you...for...saving me," Sonic gasped between words, standing up to the woman. She was shocked and her eyes grew bigger. "Oh my, a talking blue hedgehog that can stand on his own two feet! This is definitely a one in a million..."

Sonic looked around, seeing that the boat looked like the pirate ships and galleons that he read about in stories that he would often tell to Tails. The one strange thing about it was that its sails seemed to be decorated with the night sky; a royal dark blue with many white incandescent stars glowing on it. He was fascinated by it, gazing at it for a while until the woman said, "Hey! Are you going to look at me at all and tell me why you were suddenly in the sea? It's not safe to be swimming here this far."

"Oh, I wasn't swimming. I actually can't swim."

"Then...how..." she whispered, confused. It was until she suddenly remembered something important. "Wait; are you...Sonic the hedgehog?"

"The one and only!" Sonic smiled, giving her a thumbs up.

"Oh boy..." she muttered under her breath."You're the creator of this world, am I right?"

"Yeah, I guess so, from what Alpha told me."

She couldn't believe that she was created from the mind of this blue hedgehog. She sighed again, and then said, "What happened to you that caused the Great Continental Shift?"

"What?"

"You don't know, do you? Should've known," she exasperated, putting her hands on her hips. "I forgot. Ever since the Great Continental Shift, we were told that once you come here, you wouldn't remember much. Figures."

"What's the Great Continental Shift?" Sonic asked.

"I'll tell you later. I'm not in the mood to tell a story right now." After she replied, the two of them were left with an abrupt silence as she steered the boat towards the island.

"What's your name, anyways? I know I should know since I might've created you and all..."

"Eve. I'm the captain, and well, only member of this ship. My other crew members were killed since the Shift. I'm responsible for bringing the night in this world."

Sonic looked again at the sails. So that was why they were that way.

"So I'm guessing it's around night?"

"Well, in the other side of this world it is. I'm trying to get there, but first, we need to get you to land. I'm sure you're supposed to be the chosen one brought here to bring the continents back together and such."

As she said this, she didn't seemed at all excited. As if she didn't believe in him. "Are you trying to say that I can't bring peace to this land at all?" Sonic was annoyed.

"Well, I don't know. Despite what you think, it will be no easy task." She did not face him; concerned only for arriving on the island.

"Well, I defeated Eggman many times and..."

"I know, Sonic. I live inside your head," she interrupted.

Sonic was fuming. She didn't even want to listen to him. "Why did I create a person that..."

"Well Sonic, it said that when a great being created humans, they were given free will. And it is my free will that I'm not really impressed with you."

Sonic turned around, back facing her as he looked out to the sea. "Whatever."

The rest of the trip on the boat was quiet as Eve took him out to the island.

"Alright Sonic, even though I said that I'm not really...you know, I still need to help you out a little bit, since you haven't lived here all your life and all." She handed him a scroll. "Here."

Sonic immediately unfurled it, revealing a blank page. "Why are you giving me a blank piece of paper?"

"You gotta wait a little bit, doofus." As soon as she finished speaking, Sonic saw the page suddenly come to life. Many words and drawings slowly appeared on the page, revealing that it was a map. It said "Sonic's World Map" in bold letters and he saw two strange fishes looking like they were French kissing each other, as their tongues were used as a bridge to the other world. Inside the fish called Alpha were several continents, called Joy, Love, and Ecstasy. He was right now on the continent of Joy, right at the edge of the sea called Daweven Ocean. He saw a glowing white light near the end of the land on the map.

"Hey, what does the white light mean?"

"It's supposed to be where you should go. Pretty convenient, huh? Anyways, I need to go. The night is already ten minutes late, and I need to hurry to the other side of Joy." She turned around, walking to the boat. As soon as she entered it and was on the balcony, she shouted, "Well, despite what I said, good luck to you, Sonic. I hope you survive your trip." She waved to him, then disappeared from his sight as she steered the boat away from the island. Sonic stood there, dumbfounded, until the boat was tiny enough for him to not see.

He was curious about Eve. He thought that a captain of a ship in his world would be a guy. Already, Alpha was proving him wrong.

The skies were a goldenrod color, with a tint of rosy pink at the bottom. The beach he was on had white sand as the sea's hands, turned black, tried to reach the island, but could only touch his feet. This place wasn't that different from most beaches he had been to. His head turned to the sun, which was red, much like the sun in the Outer Realms, as they call it. He knew he couldn't sit here and watch it, as he had a mission to do. To do what, he didn't know, but to follow the path to the white light.

Not too far away from the beach area was a village, which seemed quite simplistic. The villagers lived in straw and grass huts, except there was one brick building not too far away from them. He didn't understand it, but maybe not much would make sense here from now on. He saw one villager that was away from his hut, looking like he was going to fish for food. He took a good look at him. He was like...Tails. Except purple. Then he saw a child of the fisherman come out of the hut. Green. Then the mother coming out and ushering the child to come back in. She was blue. Different colors of Tails...they all seemed the same, except the females having breasts and the child being smaller. But other than their fur, they still had the same two tails and blue eyes.

Another thing that Sonic learned is that he was not creative.

He had to follow the fisherman, as he didn't felt like intruding on the others. Although he had a map, maybe the fisherman would know some kind of idea on what he was supposed to do next other than follow a white light. He walked slowly towards him as the fisherman got a worm, that was singing in a tiny voice, then ended with an agonizing "agh!" as he pierced him with the hook.

"Hey, I'm wondering...what am I..."

The fisherman immediately dropped his fishing rod and turned around to face him with horrified eyes. "Waugh! Who...who are you? Don't come any closer!"

"Hey, I'm not going to hurt you pal, I just want..."

"My money? Here, take it!" He swiftly got out his wallet and gave him all the money he had: twelve gem shards. He then reached out for his tackle box and fishing rod and evaded, his twin tails spinning around.

Sonic looked back at the gem shards with a curious look. They were an assortment of colors, one green, six red, five blue, and one yellow. Sonic decided to not chase after him. Maybe all the villagers here are really high strung, he thought. Maybe they're just a peaceful bunch who are really paranoid.

He decided to go into the brick building. _Maybe they could help me out better than these guys can._

"Don't come any closer! I'll shoot you!" he heard the shopkeeper shout. He was a regular human, with brown hair and brown eyes. He held a gun that reached to Sonic's chest. His fingers were on the trigger, looking like he was about to pull it.

"Hey, I'm not going to hurt you! I just want to find out..."

"You want my money? Well, you're not getting it!"

"No! What is up with this place? I thought this was supposed to represent joy!"

The man's face softened, and he no longer faced the gun towards him. "Yeah...it's supposed to...but ever since the Continental Shift, things have, well, changed." He put the gun inside his counter.

"Eve mentioned it...what's the Continental Shift? I don't understand."

"Ah, Eve. She comes here for supplies. She's supposed to know a lot about this world of ours. I'll tell you from what I can understand from Eve, but first, I want to know your name."

"I'm Sonic. You know, the hedgehog who created this place."

"S-Sonic...?" He rushed to the floor and bowed his head, Sonic gazing at him with confusion.

"I'm so sorry, Master Sonic. I should've known you weren't a threat, since you're blue and all. Do you forgive me?"

"Yeah, yeah, I forgive you. Now can you tell me about this Shift?"

"Why yes. It's beneath the Caps Lock button."

"Huh? That doesn't really..."

"I'm just kidding.

The Continental Shift happened not too long ago. Things were all fine and dandy, we were connected to nearly all the lands and such when _bam,_a major earthquake happened. It was so serious that it killed many people and it separated the lands. There used to been a bridge that connected us to the Omega lands, but the tidal waves took it under the sea. Then suddenly, a torrential downpour suddenly came. It was going to drown us all, until a giant fish ate this land, protecting all he could eat. Same thing with the Omega lands. Since then they've been called the Alpha and Omega lands, named after the fish.

"For now, we're safe, I guess. But then, a dark ruler, who's just called No Name the God came over and exerted his power on the kingdom, creating a dark land. We're just so paranoid that his troops are going to come over and take over this village too, so that's why we're so high strung."

"No Name the God, eh? I bet I have to defeat him to..."

"With your power? Ha! I know you're fast Sonic, but your powers are wimpy compared to him. He's a god, after all."

"Wimpy?" he yelled throughout the store. "I'll tell you, I'm sure this No Name or whatever isn't as fast as me!"

"Speed doesn't always win your battles, Sonic. You need more than that to defeat him. If you want to fight him, good for you. We appreciate it. But don't come in with that attitude or you'll never make it."

Sonic said nothing. He asked the next question on his mind. "And do you know where this white light leads to?" He gave him his map.

"Ah geez, these maps always take a while..." As soon as he saw the white light on the map, he paused solemnly. "Well...Sonic, there's a...monster, there. Ever since No Name the God came over here, there's been more monster sightings. I don't know why it leads..."

"I need to defeat him!" He slammed his fist into his hand. "The first piece of my soul!"

"Yeah, I think that's it." He shrugged. "I guess if you collect all the fragments of your soul, you can bring back this place back to where it was."

"And that's what I'm aiming to do, just so I can go back to my life. I didn't really want to go on this journey, you know."

"Well, you have no choice but to help us. We are creations of your mind, after all. Maybe you can go to the king of the village and receive some help from him."

Sonic nodded, knowing now that this was where he should go to next. "Well, thanks for the help. I'll be leaving to see the king."

"Good luck, Sonic. May you restore your land back to where it was!"

"King Jovial, we have a visitor!"

This king was actually not happy to hear this. "Is it No Name's army? Tell me if it's a war he wants, then a war he gets!" He curled his hand in a fist, bringing it into the air.

"No, he's actually a blue hedgehog. Named Sonic."

"...Oh." He scratched his head. "Allow him inside, I guess. Knowing that this is the creator, this is important."

He sat back on his throne, made out of gold and rubies and shaped like a fox. He saw the blue hedgehog walk in, unafraid.

"Uh...your majesty, I'm supposed to bring the order back to this land. It's the only way that I can get back home."

"I...see. The fish Alpha sent you." He nodded. He took a look at the king. He looked like the other villagers, except he was normal colored. He was yellow. An actual Tails. "Up north, you'll see another village, and then the creature. I don't really know what it looks like or anything so you're going to have to use your brains to survive it."

"I thought you would maybe give me something that would help me out. Although I am perfectly able to..."

"I can't help you much," he disrupted him. "However, I can give you some advice. The village north of here is normal, unlike this village. But soon, you're going to see a LOT of weirdoes."

"That's...all the advice you're going to give me?"

"Hey, I never said I could, like, give you an instruction manual for this journey you're about to take. You're going to be on your own for now. Aren't you used to doing things yourself anyways?"

"Well, yeah, but sometimes I would..."

"Well, even if I look like your pal Tails, he's not here. Neither is Knuckles. This is a journey of self-discovery, one you have to take yourself."

"I already know myself! I still don't understand why I have to..."

"From what I can understand," he interrupted, "something in the Outer Realms did something to this land. Do you know what it is?"

"Not really. I remember going for a run one night and suddenly...nothing. It's weird."

"Well," he cleared his throat. "I'm keeping you here too long. You might as well go to the village. I have some important matters to attend to, anyways."

Sonic saw the king lift himself out of his chair, speaking to a servant. He then left Sonic alone, going to one of the corridors of the hut palace.

As soon as he left, the sky was green and pink. Off into the distance, he could see a small blue moon, becoming larger and larger by the minute. He also saw a fragment of the night sky, which appeared as if the green sky was broken in some places.

The sky was like a waterfall, slowly unveiling the night, draining out all the green.

He left, following a path that led to the next village.


	3. Chapter 3

As he walked along the path to the village, he saw yet another sight that caught his eye. A large shadow drooped over him as he looked above to see what created it.

A bird. It was nearly as big as the continent he was on, flying over it while its red eyes gleamed at him. It looked like a raven, with red tail feathers and many eyes, and what seemed to be four wings. He couldn't determine anything else on the bird, as it was flying fast. As he stood there, he suddenly heard a voice. "Hey! Don't let that bird see you!"

He looked around him for the source of the sound, but could see nothing but long strands of grass and a green sky. When he turned around, he saw a man. He was well-built, with long brown hair and blue eyes. He was wearing nothing but white pants.

"Don't you know who that really is?" he asked, as he pointed to the sky.

"No, not really. I just thought it was..."

"Well, things aren't what they seem to be here. That was No Name's other form. He shape shifts into a bird to see the entire world, seeing if he can find the chosen one. Did he spot you?"

"I think he did."

His face twitched. It was like he had a grin for an abrupt second, then it turned into a frown. "Well, damn. You better hide. He'll be after you now."

He couldn't see another bird in the sky. Maybe he was wrong. Maybe the bird didn't spot him. "Why isn't it coming back?"

"Well, No Name does have mysterious intentions. Or maybe you're lucky. Maybe it didn't see you. Next time, be more careful." The man dashed off into the fields, vanishing.

Sonic shook his head, and resumed down the path.

The man, looking back to see if Sonic was gone, pulled out a mirror. He looked inside it, fixing his hair. "Team, the chosen one is here. No Name has spotted him."

"Then let's go after him!" the mirror suddenly spoke to him, irritated.

"No, not yet. Leave him be for now. We can't blow our cover just yet. Those are my orders. I'm signing off for now." He hid away the mirror, staring at the hedgehog who was strolling to the village.

When Sonic arrived there, everything was run down. Torn. Destroyed. The houses were decaying away, as if nobody has ever lived there. Another peculiar thing about this village was that all the houses were yellow. He saw some of the villagers, who were wearing yellow suits. He even saw that the villagers' cattle were yellow. The people seemed to be joyful, carrying about their work with a smile on their face. But he wondered why all of the excessive yellow. The sky was almost completely night. The blue moon got bigger until it seemed to be halted by something, the sky now black. He analyzed both the village and the night until he heard a monotone voice. "Hello, sir."

Sonic looked right at his side to see a tall stick figure, with very thin arms and very thin feet. The only thing not thin was his head, which was shaped like a heart. One side had a blank listless face, staring narrowly at him. The other side was a face lighted up with warmth, grinning.

"Hello and welcome to Melloville! I am Bilan!" the happy face said.

The sight of this creature made him slightly nervous, as it was strange to see a paper thin creature talking to him. "Uh...hi," he said, showing his hand.

"What? Are you scared of us?" Bilan spoke once again in a bored voice, taking a closer look at him.

"Us? Are you...one person? I thought you..."

"No! We are both named Bilan! We are two faces sharing the same body! Isn't that wonderful?"

"Not really, considering I have to put up with your crap all the time," the depressed face replied.

Sonic was perplexed, but again, things weren't going to be normal here. "So...I've heard this town might have...weirdoes," he stammered.

"Weirdoes? Are you calling us weirdoes? Well I honestly think you're the weird one! We are just happy here! Happy happy happy!"

"Oh lord, kill me now."

Well, of course, this land was called Joy, so everyone should be happy here. This was normal, unlike the other village he was in. "What's up with the yellow? Why is everything here..."

"Yellow is the color of happy! It's a great color! Yellow is the color of the sun, another giver of life!"

"It also destroys, idiot."

He guessed that this world didn't worship him, the creator. It worshiped the bringers and takers of life. The sun, the sea...they seemed to talk about them as if they were gods. He shook his head and proceeded to leave.

"Oh, don't leave us all alone! We heard that you're Sonic, the world creator! You created us! We want to go with you!"

"Oh, _please._"

"I'm sorry you guys, but I gotta do this alone. I don't even know how you'll help me anyways."

"We have powers! Don't we, Bilan? Capable of bringing down the Joy beast?"

"No."

He believed the depressed side of Bilan. They seemed weak and not capable of much. He went down the path, until he heard depressed Bilan again. "Wait."

"What?" Sonic asked, slightly annoyed.

"We have knowledge of this world. You may be confused about this place. Maybe we can give you some...tips once in a while?"

"Alone! Alone! He has to do it alone!" happy Bilan sang.

"Shut up."

Sonic only gave them a look of slight contempt and walked away, until he saw a purple cat rush towards him.

"Oh, I'm sorry about them. They aren't good in the head," he said in a stupid voice, poking his head. "They say hi and weird out the visitors here."

"I see that." The cat was fat, with a white belly and purple fur with dark stripes. He assumed that this was Big the cat. "I'm called Big. Like they said, this is Melloville. I'll explain things here, if you want me to."

Sonic followed Big to his yellow home, glaring back at Bilan. One hand waved. One just looked away, staring at the ground.

Sonic was sitting at a wooden table, Big giving him a cup of tea. "No thanks, I don't like tea."

"You don't have to drink it. Not yet."

"Huh?"

Big said nothing as he sat down, holding yet another mug of tea. "You do know the great continental shifty thingy, right?"

"Yeah. I know that something probably happened in the 'Outer Realms' that caused a great earthquake and tidal waves and all and separated this world. If you're going to tell me a story or something, make it quick, because I got a monster to defeat."

Big was quiet, sipping his tea. Sonic didn't even know why he followed him here. He felt as if there was a ticking clock inside of him, about to go off if he doesn't defeat the monster. "I'll try to make this as fast as I can. The thing is, you can't just use power to defeat the monster, Sonic. He is a part of your soul. You have to tame it."

"Tame it?" His eyes lifted up.

Big looked at his mug. "You have to see the real side of the beast. And make it believe that it can become good. You can punch it many times, but it won't die. It can't die."

"What do I do then? I'm guessing maybe I have to be joyful towards it?"

"No, that will get you hurt. You have to control it somehow. Once you do, your body in the Outer Realms can feel joy again and you will gain one piece of your soul."

Sonic looked at the brown water of his tea. There was something weird about it. He lifted his head, facing Big, and asked, "Do you know what can cause the Great Continental Shift, what can make the Outer Realms or whatever cause it?"

"I was just getting to that. This is where you drink your tea."

"How is the tea going to..."

"Trust me. It's magical tea!"

Sonic gave him a quizzical demeanor, but he trusted him. Why would Big want to harm him anyways? He took a small sip, the warm liquid traveling down his throat. Instantly a sensation overtook him. His body felt hot, his body beginning to quiver uncontrollably. He felt as if he was stuck inside an oven, his insides baking to a crisp. He tried to hold onto his chair, his fingers feeling sweaty and slippery. His attempt to latch onto it failed, as he fell onto the floor, as Big watched him. It was like he was having a seizure, and Big wasn't helping him. He wanted to scream bloody murder, that Big poisoned the tea, that he was a murderer, he tricked him, and he was dying. However, nothing came out of his mouth as he opened it wide, not a single sound creaking from his body as he tasted sweat. "This is normal. Be calm," he replied in his slow voice.

He now felt frigid. His body was still shaking, but not as harsh. He held himself for warmth as his teeth chattered, taking a look at his surroundings.

He was what seemed to be a forest. A normal looking one. He remembered now. This was where he was taking a run. It was just a dream. A weird, wacky dream. He was back to his original world. He sighed in relief until he heard a voice in his head.

_This is Big. The tea took you back to the Outer Realms, but this won't last. You will go back to your own world pretty soon._

"Damn it," he said as if he was bored. He still didn't comprehend what was going on, but he thought he should return to Tails' base and tell him.

_"_Sonic!" Sonic flinched as Tails ran to him, giving him a near suffocating hug. "I was so worried about you! I thought for a minute there you were...you know..."

"Tails," Sonic solemnly said. "This won't last. I'm going to faint again pretty soon."

"Faint? What's wrong, Sonic? I don't understand..."

He felt very weird. It was like he couldn't express a single emotion. He was...cold. As if all emotion was sucked out of him. And didn't Alpha say that he couldn't return back to his own world? Nothing made sense in his own little land.

"Tails, I..."

_Time is ticking..._

"Tails, what happened to me. Can you run some tests for me." Tails suddenly was scared. Something happened to Sonic. He wasn't the same. It was like he suddenly turned autistic.

"I don't know, what's going on...well, uh...Sonic, can you...smile?"

Sonic couldn't lift a single muscle in his face. His apathy was permanent.

"Who...who are you? You can't be..."

"I am Sonic, Tails. Listen, something happened to me. Something that made me this way. I don't have a soul, Tails."

Tails didn't really believe in that people had a soul, but he agreed that something was indeed wrong. "Do you know what happened."

"Well, you said you were going for a run after we defeated Dark Gaia just a while ago. Remember when...you brought the planet back together and you had a werehog problem?"

He memorized his last adventure. He defeated Dark Gaia and cured his lycanthropy. But, maybe the dark Gaia..."Tails, the dark Gaia. It took over my body, didn't it. Made me this way. Maybe white ducks and apples can solve it."

"...What?" Tails said in disbelief.

"I mean, sugar and aspirin often technically solves the circumstantial kittens of the system. Maybe if we eat enough beans, we can stab our way into the sun."

Tails couldn't believe it. Sonic was now speaking gibberish. As if he was crazy. He shuddered, tears flowing from his eyes. Sonic felt no sympathy towards him. He continued to talk in monotone, making no sense.

"Elephants can explode if we coke the inward way of winter and don't come back until we're blind. Children's horns and gravy make invaluable trains."

_Do you now see why you need to gain back your soul?_

Sonic's eyes drooped, his eyelids shutting his vision. He faltered until Tails caught him, halting his fall.

Sonic saw that he was back inside the house, Big still with him. "What the hell was that about? Why...why, couldn't I smile or anything? Why did I speak weird? What's happening to me?"

"Dark Gaia." He took another gulp of his tea.

"So is that the cause of this? Do I have...dark Gaia inside of me? How is that possible?"

"Don't know."

Sonic thought he had enough of this. "Bye, Big. I'm going to try to tame that monster. I have to. I can't waste any more time."

He closed the door and traveled in light speed, determined now more than ever.


	4. Chapter 4

_ack in the Outer Realms…_

The doctor was shocked to see a young fox carrying a blue hedgehog into his office, all by himself. The hedgehog seemed to be unconscious, and the fox covered in beads of sweat.

"Doctor, you've got to help me! Something is wrong with Sonic! He...he..."

"Calm down. Explain to me what happened, little fox."

"Well...Sonic saved the world and all just a while ago. You know that."

"He has several times." He nodded.

"Well, he said he was going to take a short run through the forest, and he always comes back really quickly. But he didn't return for an hour. He came back, and suddenly, he couldn't express a single emotion and he started speaking very strangely."

"How was he speaking? Was he stuttering or speaking gibberish or..."

"Yeah! He was speaking gibberish! And then, he fainted. Before that, he said he was going to faint, so..."

"Hmm," he sounded. "This is all very strange indeed. Little fox, you wouldn't want to hear this, but does Sonic have any history of schizophrenia?"

"What? No! Sonic isn't like that at all! He just started acting like this today!"

"Well, I'm just making a guess. When someone starts speaking gibberish, it's called word salad, and it is commonly attributed to schizophrenia. Lack of feeling can also be attributed to it. And…I'm afraid it seems like he's in a coma. We would need to do blood tests and he would have to be admitted to ICU."

Tails face was no longer stressed, but completely devastated. He heard all about comas. Although it was possible to awaken from them, it was also possible that Sonic would never become conscious. He began to sniffle, tears escaping.

The doctor didn't know what to do. He couldn't promise that his best friend would be all right. He had dealt with several patients that were in comas, some of them never regaining consciousness. They were usually requested to die from their families. However, he could only retract that thought. Maybe there was still hope for him. Maybe it was…minor. However, he didn't know how to comfort the fox from its sorrow. He pat its back, as he cried loudly.

_Sonic's World_

The grass began to become more sparse and coarse, the colors of the world becoming a little bit darker each step he took. He knew he was going to face a monster pretty soon. The signs were all obvious. He didn't know what Big meant when he said he had to "tame" it. How was he going to tame a beast? None of it made sense. In fact, this whole adventure wasn't making sense. He might as well throw away his logic. Something told him that it wouldn't be needed here anymore.

He heard a growl. The grass was completely gone, as he saw a large symbol in the earth. The symbol for joy. As he heard more snarling, he looked at his map. He was directly in the white light area. As he walked towards the symbol, the skies grew even darker; the night stars no longer there. The world around him seemed to grow purple and black, the wind becoming harsh, the grass becoming dead.

The symbol was becoming bolder, growing darker. The black began to ooze out of the symbol, a black liquid staining the earth. He looked below to see that the ooze began to form into a small lump, growing and moving slowly towards him.

He got himself into fighting position. This was it.

The black liquid seemed to grow beady red eyes, slithering its way to the hedgehog. It looked up at him, staring at him for a moment. While Sonic was about to kick it, the slime grabbed a hold of his foot and began to consume it.

Sonic struggled to get the liquid off of his shoe, but it was too thick. He gave his foot a strong kick, trying to flick it off, but it stuck to him tightly. His foot became black, and it started to inch its way across its leg. He attempted to shove the blackness away from his legs with his hands, but the sludge devoured them. It crawled over his body, the liquid overtaking him. He couldn't move. Sonic began to feel immense fear. He pried open his mouth and let out a scream, until the liquid disrupted him, going inside his mouth.

He wanted to cough. Vomit. Anything to get the liquid to stop going inside his mouth and down his throat. He could only swallow the bitter tasting creature. It tasted like salted tar, and just the thought of eating tar made him sick. It was suddenly that he began to quiver, tears developing in his eyes, puking it up.

The creature was off of him now, but something seemed to come out of his body. He coughed, as suddenly a face that looked similar to his popped out of his mouth. He heard screaming, yelling, and crying. He felt small fingers trying to pry open his mouth, as he began to see what was coming out of him. Another blue hedgehog crawling out of his mouth. He could tell that it was a child, as his voice was higher pitched as he yelled. As soon as the child hedgehog's feet emerged out of his body, the child being released, he felt like he was going to collapse. His world was swirling around as he held his head, trying not to become unconscious. He felt sick again, but he tried not to throw up, in fear of what else was inside of him.

The colors reverted to their original hues. The symbol was no longer bold, and the creature with the red eyes disappeared.

Sonic gasped, brushing away his tears. He didn't know what the hell just happened. Except that his mouth seemed to give birth to a child.

Indeed, logic was thrown away.

He looked at him. He looked exactly like him, but smaller and his eyes looked bigger. More innocent. He held himself for comfort, as he began to bawl and screech.

"Hey..." he whispered, his hands reaching for the child, hugging him in an attempt to comfort him. The child began to calm down, but still weeping as Sonic began to shush him.

"Hey there...it's alright. I don't know how you...you know, but, it's alright."

"No..." he whined. "It's not okay...it's not okay, it's not okay!"

"Are you supposed to be...my joy or something?" Sonic picked up the child, once again in another try to quiet him.

"No..." He wiped his tears. "I'm you, when you were a child."

"Hm? You're me...when I was a kid?" The child nodded. "I'm guessing something bad happened, huh?"

"I don't like this world...I don't like it one bit. It's so scary..."

Sonic gazed at the world ahead of him. The grass was weaving in the wind, and the blue moon began to fade away. The night sky was growing brighter, transforming to a golden hue. There was still a path ahead of him, maybe leading to the actual beast.

When the child calmed down, he put him back on the ground. The child could only stare at him, putting his thumb in his mouth.

"No offense kid, but...I didn't really expect to have a kid during this journey. I...really don't think it's safe for you to be here right now."

"I know," he replied softly, looking down on the ground and shuffling his feet. Sonic could only smile a little when he looked at his face. His cheeks were puffy, and his eyes looked up at him, filled with a mixture of fear and curiosity. He was kind of like Tails when he was younger.

"Well then...I really don't know what I should do. You can't go on this adventure with me. Too dangerous. Maybe I should head back."

"No, we keep on going." He began to run towards the path, picking up speed. His own feet made him falter, falling on the ground. Sonic chuckled a little, as the child picked himself back up and tried to run again. Sonic pursued him, sprinting faster than him and stopping him on his tracks.

"Hold on kid, I said we head back. I don't want you to get hurt, or worse..."

"No! Come on, I want to get your soul back! Follow me!" He gripped his hand and began to run with him, taking him deeper down the path.

"Stop, stop, stop! You're going..."

"What, home? I don't have a home! Let's just go! We can't use up any more time!"

Sonic thought there was nothing he could do. The child was just as stubborn as he was. He did take Tails on his adventures when he was younger, but he didn't think too well back then. He didn't want the child to get hurt, but...

"Hey, what should I name you?"

"You can just call me...Sonic Jr., I guess."

As the child plunged Sonic into the depths of the path, once again, things were getting dark. It was morning by now, but the sky seemed to be more of a bronze. He could also hear the hoarse whispers of the wind as it whistled away to the trees, pushing them. Sonic Jr.'s running gradually grew slower, then came to a halt as him and Sonic reached the end of the land of Joy. It was a cliff, with the sea in the distance. Sonic and Sonic Jr. gaped at the scenery, while the sun was rising. "Wow, I've never seen a sunrise before! It's awfully pretty!"

Sonic looked once again at his map. He could see that a couple of miles across this sea was the land of Ecstasy. He didn't know he was going to get there, as he, of course, couldn't swim. "Sonic Jr., you need to be careful out here. That beast could arrive here at any moment."

"Oh. Yeah." He nodded, rising to his feet. He forgot that was the main purpose of being here. "Dad, look!"

"Please don't call me dad..."

"No, really! There's something shiny over there!" He pointed, a crescent moon-like object away from his finger.  
>"Could that be? " Sonic scrambled over the hill, seeing a clear jade crescent. "That could be a part of my soul!"<p>

"Well, what are you waiting for? Go get it before beastie comes here."

Sonic zipped across the hills in a streak of blue light, hand reaching out for the jewel.

Sonic's ears picked up a snarl, and he was close to two eyes that were made out of gems. As his hand stopped moving, the beast rose, seeing his great white, jagged teeth and his flaring nostrils.

It was the beast of joy. He somehow made it before Sonic. Sonic thought that it was a very strange creature, with silver scales that Sonic could see his reflection on, and a dragon-like face with a serpentine body, but its wings were like a butterfly's. They were colored the hues of sapphire and black, large and seeming to be made of a thick powder. They had sharp corners, and a pink gem at the end of its wings. Its legs seemed to belong to a kangaroo, long and thick, possibly able to jump maybe twice its height. It grinned at Sonic, gazing at him madly with its shiny gem eyes. It then bellowed a defiant roar, blowing away Sonic from the jewel.

Sonic's back hit a tree, his body sliding down the bark. The blow nearly broke his back. He felt his back throbbing, feeling as if he broke a disc, but he knew he couldn't ignore the monster. He got up, slowly, to be only thumped by the creature's tail. "Daddy!" Sonic Jr. screamed.

He was in intense pain. The tail was extremely heavy, probably weighing a few hundred pounds alone. He couldn't breathe as the tail curled around him, nearly crushing his ribs. Sonic flailed about, trying to escape the grip, but it was in vain. The dragon tightened around him, Sonic giving a roar in pain.

"You let daddy go! Now!" Sonic Jr. ran up the dragon's body as fast as Sonic would, rolling up in a ball at mid-speed. The dragon ignored him, thinking he was no threat, until he heard something shatter.

Sonic tried to look. The dragon gave a roar as Sonic Jr. shattered one of its eyes, the gem shards being scattered all over the field. It arched its body, giving another shrill roar, as it tried to grab Jr. The dragon's tail loosened its grip on Sonic, freeing him.

"That's good Jr., the eyes seem like they're his weakness!" he shouted, running away as soon as the beast slammed his tail on the ground, nearly hitting him.

He knew he felt like he was dead, but he had to keep on fighting. If he let his "son" to fend for himself, it wouldn't be right. He was also determined to get that soul piece, whatever it took, even if he had to feel an incredible ache all over his body. He stopped running to see that that the dragon began to shake his head, trying to be rid of the child. It leapt in the air, hovering with its wings as it thrashed about, flying in the sky, trying to make the child fall to his death. Sonic grabbed its tail, climbing towards its body.

They were in the sky now, both Sonics seeing clouds and the sun. They felt the wind whipping against them, seeming as if it wanted them to be gone. Sonic Jr. held onto the dragon's horn as it soared, emitting a deep-throated growl. The child was starting to become frightened, his body shaking as he realized how high he was now. He could feel his fingers slipping on the horn, his hand sliding slightly. He began to whimper as he looked back towards the older Sonic, thinking he could help.

Sonic thought about the advice on "taming" the beast. He didn't know how to do it. This beast was anything but joyful to see him. He looked at the monster's remaining eye. There was something eerie about it. They were an amethyst color, with a few shades of pink. Its pupil was looking directly at him, filled with rage.

"Hurry up, dad! I'm about...to slip!" Jr. cried.

He remembered all the times he was joyful. The first time he defeated Eggman. That was a long time ago, the first time he realized he could bring joyfulness to many other animals. In fact, he was usually joyful most of the time, and so were most people when they saw him. Even when he laid eyes on...his child? He knew time was ticking. The dragon began to stretch his neck and was about to breathe a stream of flames from his mouth.

Immediately Sonic flew off the dragon, dropping into the sky. Why did he suddenly jump off? He didn't see why he did, other than his fingers losing strength. Well, he was going to pay for his mistake. He felt the wind carrying him off, plunging further into the golden sky. He closed his eyes, not wanting to see his fate.

He was floating. He didn't know how, but he looked at his sides. He had wings now. Large butterfly ones, to be exact. They were a very bright green, turning into red, blue, and gold. They changed colors slowly, becoming a different hue each minute, and they seemed to be nearly translucent. He looked off into the distance, seeing the dragon was slithering away with the child, still grasping the horn. He exerted much energy into flapping his wings, trying to get there as quick as he could.

"Dad...did you..." Jr. gasped, seeing his metamorphosis. The dragon began to fly upside down, the child unable to hold on any further. Sonic glided to him quickly as Jr. shrilled sharply, until he caught him in his arms.

"What happened? How did you suddenly grew those wings?"

"I really don't know. I guess this is what happens when I remember all the times I was..." He stopped, seeing the dragon was after him and Jr. now, opening its jaws, about to unleash more fire.

He thought maybe the way he could tame the beasts was possibly hitting them in their weak spots. If he could destroy another one of his eyes, he could no longer see and he wouldn't pursue him any longer. He thought it could work.

Sonic dodged the fire swiftly, making a u-turn. The dragon's eye followed him, but he was still belching fire in another direction. However, it was slowly creaking its neck towards Sonic's direction, the fire moving slowly.

"Jr. I want you to roll up in a ball and hit his eye. I know it'll be scary, but trust me. This is how we can defeat him."

"O...okay..." he replied anxiously.

Jr. hopped off, curling up. He homed in on his eye, and like glass, it was broken. The jeweled eye flew off in every direction, the dragon yelling in a bloody rage.

The dragon turned completely pink, its screaming muffled, and suddenly shape shifted into a tiny ball. The ball dropped, and so did the child, plummeting down until Sonic captured him in his hands, him watching as the ball fell to the earth.

It didn't break or crack. It bounced a little, then was still.

Sonic picked it up as Jr. watched him, scrutinizing it and holding towards the sun.

There wasn't much special about it. It was just a pearl. It was a pink one, glittering brightly against the sun. It didn't seem to hold any special powers, like the Chaos Emeralds back at the Outer Realms. However, Sonic decided to keep it, thinking it was important. "Alright, let's get my soul."

The soul piece was still bright, nearly blinding Sonic. As he reached for it, he heard something.

_And I wrote my happy songs_

_Every child may joy to hear..._

The voice sounded like a woman's, whispering into his ear. As he grabbed the jewel, a strange feeling loomed over him. He thought that he would possibly feel joy, but no. He felt something different. The world began to fade away, and so did the child. He was in a black area, with a gray floor. Sonic looked around him, until he saw a very beautiful woman emerge.

She seemed solemn, not having any emotion in her face. She was also nude, but her wings, which were rainbow-colored butterfly wings that changed color every so often, covered her and had short brown hair and deep blue eyes.

He was astounded by how gorgeous she was. But he kept his words to himself as she spoke.

"Hello Sonic. I see that you have tamed the beast by not allowing her to see. Her eyes kept her soul inside. I am her real form."

Sonic was surprised that the beast he fought was really female, but he said nothing. She spoke again. "Thank you for releasing me. Ever since the dark ruler No Name has taken over this land, he made us into monsters. You have also released the joy in you, allowing you to fly. There are two more of us on the Alpha lands. Ecstasy and Joy are connected again, so you can follow the path to that continent.

"You also have the ability to see your creations' souls. Your child can see if someone has dark intentions and wish to harm you. He can also see many other things that your eyes can't pick up. Please love him and nurture him as you would do yourself."

"Well, that was what I was about to ask you. Why do I have a child now? It doesn't make any..."

She lifted her hand. "I will explain to you several things. First of all, what's going on in your body on the Outer Realms and here.

Somehow, the dark Gaia from the Outer Realms is affecting your mind. Not only does it make you turn into a werehog, but it wiped out this land, which is why you seem...soulless. You have only one emotion right now, which is joy. It also made a very dark being control the land. He wishes to cause discord inside your world. His rule didn't spread everywhere, as you can see, but he has made us prisoners of ourselves.

"And now I'll answer your question. Your child protected you from that monster. As you protect your child, he will protect you. He represents your childhood."

"I have to go now. Thanks again, Sonic. May good fortune shine on you." She revealed a small smile.

She then unveiled her wings and disappeared in a flash of light, the world returning to him.

"Daddy?"

He looked at Jr. He firmly put his hand in his, smiled, and said, "Let's go, buddy."

Jr. smiled back. "I'm right behind ya!"

They both traveled down the path, entering the land of Ecstasy.


	5. Chapter 5

So the Joy creature reverted back to normal, eh?" a brown haired man said, speaking to another man who was counting each step he took.

"One two three four five six seven. Yup, the creator did it. He has a child following him around too."

"I see. I believe it's time to pay the creator a visit. This guy could be a threat if he got to her that fast."

"_Threat_!" a shifty-eyed male exclaimed, pulling out a gun.

"One two three four five six seven. Calm down. We're not sure yet. One two."

"I don't...want to see him..." a little girl muttered, hiding her face.

"Neither do I. Because I'm not interested."

The woman wearing a tattered dress, with cuts all over, did not speak or show her face.

"He'll be dead soon. I can predict the future, you know."

"Is he hot? I'll grace him with my looks..."

"Well, whether you guys want to see him or not, we'll be seeing him. Right now he's going to Ecstasy, which isn't too far away. Don't bother hiding yourself; he's got that kid with him."

"Three four. Who, though? We can't all show ourselves."

"Right. We'll test his power for now. Only one person should go. And that'll be you." He pointed to the shifty-eyed one.

"Who? Me? _Are you patronizing me?_"

"No. It's your job. You need to get there quick and maybe take him down. That's an order."

"_Fine,_" he spat, pulling out his knives and guns.

The grass became thicker and the wind a little bit rougher as he journeyed to Ecstasy. The sky was turning gray like a thunderstorm, but Sonic didn't knew if that was normal or not, but it seemed like a storm was coming.

"Daddy, I sense something or someone coming."

"Who or what it is?"

"I don't know yet..." he replied quietly.

He looked at his map. He could see a white bright light at the middle of the land of Ecstasy. A wet spot dripped on the map. It was starting to rain.

"We better hurry to Ecstasy, dad. We don't want to get wet, do we?"

"You're right, we don't. Will you be able to catch up with me?"

He nodded. "Yeah!"

"Alright, here we..."

"You're the one," he suddenly heard a hoarse voice say.

"Huh?"

He saw something appear from the shadows. He was wearing a wide hat, an overcoat, and his hand was gripping a gun, pointed towards him. He seemed stressed, as beads of sweat drenched his face. "Don't get any closer! _I'll shoot you!_"

"Dad. Something's not right with this guy," Jr. commented, looking up at Sonic as he hid behind his leg.

"Yeah, you're right. Something isn't right with him."

"_Ha ha! Laugh now! You'll be dead before you know it!_"

"Hold on dude, we're not going to hurt you..."

"_Take this!_" he shrieked, firing the gun.

Sonic, in the speed of light, pushed his child out of the way and dodged the bullet. He rolled on the ground, seeing that the man was still locked on to him. "Can dodge a bullet, huh? I can see why King No Name thinks you're a threat..."

"You work for No Name? No wonder why you seem suspicious! Who are you?" Sonic rose, while Jr. crouched, frightened.

"What are you going to do with my name? I am called Paranoid."

"Yeah, you are paranoid. If you want to do harm, I'll kick your…"

The man growled, pulling the trigger on the gun again several times. Sonic disappeared, the bullets missing their target.

He looked all around him, seeing that the both of them weren't there. He unloaded his gun, putting more bullets in but as he looked behind his back, seeing that Sonic was there. He threw his fist, punching him in the jaw.

The man stumbled, almost falling to the earth. As he regained his posture, he unsheathed his knife, then charged towards him, thrusting it in a stabbing motion as he yelled.

"Tsk, tsk. You would think he would think before doing this..." Sonic coiled himself, and hit the man's feet, making him fall flat on his face. Before he could react and grab his knife again, Sonic grabbed his shirt collar and made him rise in the air. Sonic then shook him, his knives, bullets, and unloaded guns abruptly falling from his coat pockets.

"You're unarmed. Obviously you don't think well when you're in a battle."

"Please, creator! Let me go! I don't want to die!"

"You know? I don't really trust you. I'm sure once I put you down, you'll try to shoot me. But I won't kill you."

His child walked slowly towards him, scanning the man. "He's pretty evil, dad. If you do drop him, he'll grab his gun."

The man gave off a nervous laugh. He stopped when Sonic glared him.

"You seem to be really dangerous. As if you're criminally insane."

"Dad, I know why he seems to be...a little weird. He has Paranoid Personality Disorder."

"What?" Sonic looked at him.

"Paranoid. He'll hurt you because he doesn't trust you."

"Is that so?" He looked back at the man.

"Yes. Yes, it is true." He nodded.

"I'll let you go if you promise not to hurt me or my kid. If not, then I'm afraid I'll have to..."

"Well, I have to kill you, Sonic. It's a part of my mission."

"What mission?" He tried to hold him higher.

"I belong...to a group of people hired by No Name...we're called the Disorders."

"Disorders? So, does that mean..."

"Yes. We are aimed to make you crazy, basically."

Sonic gave him another glare. His child sat down, and tried to load a gun.

"Oh, okay! Fine, I'll...be going." The man lowered his head, Sonic dropping him, his gaze not as intense. Sonic still did not trust him, but he did not believe in killing. He and his child vanished in a flash, two blue rays of light going off in the distance.

Paranoid did not want to go back to headquarters. He knew that he would be punished severely for letting the creator go. But the one thing they wouldn't take from him, was his life, something that he cherished more than anything. He walked away, picking up his loaded gun, head slumped down.

Sonic could hear thunder growling off in the distance. He was in a city that had roads, advanced architecture, and they seemed to have taken advantage of the weather, using the rain as a main power source. Most of the city also seemed to be made out of metal, the rain slicking down, it becoming stained. This city reminded him of Station Square back in the Outer Realms. He continued to analyze the city until he picked up a very loud rumbling.

"Dad...I don't like lightning. Can we go inside or something?" his child meekly asked.

"Yeah, we'll go to a building for some shelter," he replied back.

Something seemed a bit weird in this city. The cars seemed to go as fast as he does. He could only see a blur of the car's color as it sped by. In fact, they were all moving as if someone put them in high speed. The people also seemed to move very quickly. In and out the doors they would fly out, reaching their destination in seconds. He went inside what seemed to be an office building, seeking refuge from the rain.

He thought his eyes were deceiving him, but the people were still traveling in light speed. They seemed to pass him by, not caring as to who he was. It was like something he would see on TV, where somebody stood in the middle of the crowd while they swiftly walked by him. His child seemed to be genuinely perplexed, trying to hold someone's hand. They avoided it as if it was dangerous.

"Hey...what's going on here? Why is everyone moving so fast? Do you know why that is?" he questioned a woman who was sitting behind a desk, seeming normal.

"Hello I see you are Sonic do you have an appointment?" Her mouth was like a motor, running off in milliseconds.

"Huh? What exactly is going on..."

"Don't you know? This is the land of excitement! Everyone must go, go, go!"

He looked behind him. He saw the very skinny, happy and bored speaking Bilan again. He didn't know how they got here.

"He is actually right. This is where you find out you have an ADD-rattled mind."

"ADD? I don't have that! What are you talking...can you not wave that key at me? It's very distracting!" Sonic shouted, seeing that the depressed side of Bilan began to swing a key back and forth, just to get his attention. The jovial Bilan played with a yo-yo, Sonic watching it intently as it bopped up and down. He fleetly grabbed it and threw it over his shoulder, Bilan still having the same emotions.

"I see that you're in denial!" the happy Bilan sang.

"Anyways, you don't need to do anything in this city. No Name's rule hasn't even spread over the Alpha lands. The only thing you need to do is get through this city and go inside Adrenaline Cave."

"Adrenaline Cave? Do I give any of these places any good names?"

"No!" He grinned.

"And then what do I do in Adrenaline Cave?"

"That's for you to know and you to find out." Bilan twisted around, warping themselves out of his view. They were gone.

"Well...I guess we get out of here, Jr. I guess there's...nothing here."

"Yeah..."

It was still pouring when they exited the building. Something caught his eye when he looked in the distance. He saw a small green and yellow snake, around its neck webbed fins, slithering by him. Sonic picked it up cautiously, the snake hissing at him until it looked towards the sky, shielding him from the sheets of rain. He moved Jr. under it, both of them walking by the near invisible people, using the snake as an umbrella.


	6. Chapter 6

_Back in the Outer Realms..._

"_What! Sonic's in a coma!"_Knuckles yelled vehemently, nearly making Tails jump.

"Yes...that's what the doctor said. He also thought he was schizophrenic, because he had this thing called 'word salad' and he had no feeling in his voice at all. He could...he could..."

"I don't understand. What could've possibly happened that made him into this, do you know?"

"Not really...I'm assuming he fainted when he was taking a run, then when he came back here, he said he was going to faint again, and...that's what happened. Now he's in a coma."

"That is weird. Did...Sonic say anything at all about something going on when he was taking a run?"

"No...but he said something about dark Gaia..."

"That could be it," Knuckles recited. "The dark Gaia did make him weird in the past, right?"

Tails nodded. "He turned into this monster back when the planet was in pieces. But I guess it...got to his head too..."

"Maybe you can talk to Professor Pickle about this. He does seem to know a lot about this dark Gaia."

"That's a good idea, Knuckles. Maybe he knows how to cure him. The doctors don't know anything about dark Gaia, so maybe he'll know what to do." At the same time, Tails didn't want to go see him. Maybe he would tell him that his friend couldn't be cured. But he knew he had to. He had no other choice. He waved goodbye to Knuckles after they were done conversing and rode in his Tornado to Spagonia.

He just hoped it wouldn't be too late.

_Back in Sonic's world..._

The rain still drenched the world, making the ground muddy for Sonic and Jr. as they walked all over it. Their footprints were implanted on the earth, fading away as the rain drowned it. "Dad...you better be on your feet. Something weird's going to happen."

He nodded. He couldn't doubt Jr. He was only a kid but he seemed to know more about this world as he did. His ability to foresee and read people's intentions seemed to be right on, too.

The ground rumbled. He thought that lightning possibly struck not too far away from them. He fell on his bottom, dropping the snake he was using for an umbrella, it slithering away. As the earth shook, Jr. also lost his balance and fell right into a mud puddle. He shrieked and speedily crawled away from it, the mud puddle suddenly becoming an eye with a red pupil. The earth began to give away, a muddy mountain coming into view. The eyes popped out as if they were inflated, staring at the two hedgehogs. Jr. began to shake, Sonic interested in what was going to progress.

It was a mud beast, appearing as an amorphous blob. Mud dripped from its body and its mouth as it began to speak.

"Sonic the hedgehog, how dare you ignore this world. How dare you douse your eyes with mud, blinded by your apathy. How dare you not know of what's really going on."

"What are you saying? That I'm ignoring myself or the problems of the world? That's waaaay over the top, bub," Sonic yelled, folding his hands.

"Over the top? Can't you see your own hypocrisy? Can't you see that the gods are not happy with your uneducated ways? You stubborn, miserable creature, I will bring an end to your adventure and an end to your own self-destruction!"

The mud beast folded its liquid palms into a fist made of stone, and rammed it into the ground. Sonic and Jr. swiftly jumped out of the way, the beast melting the rock back into mud.

"So you wanna play, huh? Alright, I'm game!" Sonic grinned as his son looked over him, seeing that the beast was not happy with his reply. Sonic grinned as his son looked over him, seeing that the beast was not happy with his reply. It swung a wet slap over the terrain, Sonic and Jr. jumping over it. It wasn't long before the mud monster began to sink to the earth, its maddening eyes submerging inside its body. Sonic could still see the eyes inside its body, as they were glowing brightly amidst all the mud. It soon became nothing but a puddle, then it was gone.

"Hey, where did that blow hard go? He was just..." Sonic looked below him, seeing that mud was covering his feet. He attempted to run, but the liquid stuck to the soles, trapping him. He tried to lift one of his feet, it firm to the ground.

"I got you now!"

He once again made his fist into a concrete hammer, thundering down on Sonic.

"Dad! No!"

Sonic shut his eyes, wincing.

_In the Outer Realms..._

"Sonic's in a coma? And you believe that this is happening because of the dark Gaia?" Professor Pickle asked, as he picked up a kettle full of tea and poured the liquid inside Tails' cup.

"Yeah. Because he mentioned it before he fainted. And it did made him into that monster. Do you think that this is what's causing it?"

"Well, of course. Sonic has seen that the dark Gaia can make people turn strange. So it is a possible theory."

"Well, he did act strange. Heard of the term 'word salad'?"

"Why yes. It's when someone starts speaking nonsense. I'm guessing this is what happened to Sonic?"

"Yes! And he also had a flat tone. The doctor thought he was schizo..."

"Well, he is no schizophrenic. I'm sure once they're done with the blood tests they'll see particles of black material in it. I'm certain that it's dark Gaia now. But it seems to have affected Sonic more severely than the others he's seen."

"So...is there a way to cure him? There has to be! Sonic cured all those people who had it, right?"

"Well, yes. But they didn't have it as bad as Sonic, it seems. When somebody obtains a large quantity of dark Gaia in their system, not only can it make them act strange and faint, but..."

"Yes?"

"If they get out of the coma, they may never be the same."

Tails looked down, the words echoing in his head. "What do you mean that..."

"Well, if we let the dark Gaia remain there while he's unconscious, it can affect the brain permanently. This can make Sonic mentally impaired."

Tails slammed his palms on the table. "Then we have to get there! We have to tell them what's going on and somehow get it out of him!"

Pickle nodded. "I agree. If we sit here any longer, Sonic's mind can be in serious danger."

_Once again back in Sonic's World..._

A high-pitched screech came from what seemed to be nowhere. Sonic opened his eyes, seeing that one of the eyeballs of the mud beast was hurt. It gave off a tremendous roar as its eyeball sank into the puddle, still glowing luminescent. He saw that Jr. dove into it, forgetting about his great fear of the water.

Sonic Jr. held onto the stem of the eyeball as he delved into the hole. He couldn't see too well in the water, but he could see the other eyeball was poking out of the ground. He let go of the hurt eyeball and effortlessly swam to the other one.

Sonic began to notice that the mud was no longer under his feet. He ran off full-force like a locomotive, while the mud monster with its one eye still observing him. Sonic could feel the earth quake as the creature slammed its fist into the ground, missing him completely. He eyed the mud puddle that Jr. was inside, about to dive into it until he saw something emerge from it.

"Jr.!" Sonic thought he was seeing a miracle. The child rose out of the other puddle, covered in mud, and struggled with the other eyeball, punching and biting it. The eyeball was wriggling around, attempting to make the small hedgehog stop his assault. He was slipping however; as the loose mud was taking over his hands and was making him lose his grip. Sonic jumped up, grabbing onto the eyeball as it moved towards him. The mud was also covering him, but he held on tightly as he punched the glowing eyeball, suddenly becoming dented like a ping pong ball. Sonic and Jr. fell into the mud puddle, as the monster once again bellowed violently, its other eyeball falling.

"I'm blind! I'm blind! Oh the irony! Curse you Sonic, and cruel fate! I will not fail, however. I will take you with me to my misery!"

They were sinking into the depths, Sonic seeing light enter the water, as Jr. was drifting down, his body not moving and his eyes shut. He could see that the puddle was hardening, the light from the surface disappearing, the puddle becoming darker. Sonic growled as he strenuously moved through the mud, grabbing Jr. He kicked his feet harder, the mud becoming thicker. He was only moving like molasses, the sludge being incredibly gluey around him, as the puddle became blacker and his time running short.

His wings burst from his body, not being affected by the gunk. Using all his might, the wings glowed radiantly, and he suddenly shot forth from the puddle, as if it was building pressure.

He was covered in mud, thin strands of it sticking to him. So was Jr., his body still being cold and unmoving. The rain began to cleanse them, the mud slowly dripping from their bodies. As soon as the rain rinsed his face, he twitched, then coughed terribly. Sonic looked behind to see if the mud monster was still there, but he was gone, not even leaving a trace.

"Dad..." He coughed again. "Are you all right?"

"Me? I'm fine. It's you I'm worried about."

"I'll…I'll be fine." Another cough. "Just was in there for too long I guess."

"Hey, it's alright though. You were really brave back there."

Jr.'s face became a little red. "...Really? I...I...?"

"Yeah, I've been really impressed with you so far. I thought you…"

"Because I'm a kid? Well, I'm you, you know," he replied as he folded his arms.

Sonic was very impressed with what this child was able to do. He believed that possibly the miracle happened because of...love. He knew he was able to accomplish feats he didn't even knew he could do because of stress, and it was possible to do the same thing with love.

"So...Adrenaline Cave. I believe it's not too far, because look!" He pointed to the white metallic cavern in the distance, which was in the middle of many mountains reaching the heavens.

The sky was becoming dark now. The rain still continued to fall, thunder streaking in the distance.

Sonic now felt very confident in this adventure. And so did Jr. Both of them felt like with each other, anything was possible. Sonic didn't even know that his childhood could be so powerful.

A flash of light and a pound came to Sonic's head. He had to hold his head and he stepped back. Suddenly he felt an immense headache, as if his head was ready to implode. "Dad? What's wrong?"

Sweat dripped down his face. He was grunting, holding his head even tighter. The pounding in his head became more and more painful.

He suddenly saw a faint, light blue face that was similar to his. It was looking straight at him.

He was red in the face, trying to breathe. The pain became unbearable. He screamed.


	7. Chapter 7

He was cold and began to clasp his hands on his body in an attempt to stay warm. The pain stopped, but he could see he was somewhere else. Was he possibly in the Outer Realms now? It was snowing and his feet shook as it was buried in the freezing powder. He thought that he was in Ice Cap Zone, but he saw no large mountains. Only dusted trees and a frozen sea off in the distance. He shivered, then slowly walked. To where, he wasn't sure. Something just forced him to walk.

_The Outer Realms..._

Was it true? That her dear Sonic was now in a coma and near death? She dashed to the hospital, her heart beating rapidly as she entered the hospital doors.

She was nearly out of breath by the time she reached the reception desk. She couldn't remember the last time she ran this quickly for Sonic. "Uh...can I help you?" the secretary asked, concerned.

"Yes...you can..." she said between breaths. "Is Sonic...in here?"

The secretary frowned. "I'm afraid so. He's currently in the ICU, unconscious."

She was utterly devastated, gasping. The rumors were true. "Which room is he in?" she uttered nearly as fast as she ran.

"He's in the second room. Are you related to him?"

"No, I'm his girlfriend, and I have to see him!" She hastened to the room, nearly colliding with several people.

Straightaway when she arrived, she saw both Tails and Professor Pickle there, talking with the doctors.

"So you're saying he has dark Gaia in his system?"

"Yes. And there must be a way you can get it out. If we continue to let it run in him, he could become mentally impaired, or worse, dead."

"Dead!"

Tails looked behind him, seeing that it was Amy. He could only take a short glance at her, then continue to listen to the doctor as Professor Pickle spoke with him.

"We can perform a blood transfusion. But how is this 'dark Gaia'..."

"It can make people strange when it enters the body. In fact, it made Sonic turn into a monster earlier, but it's affecting him even more."

"Well professor, I believe your theory. We'll perform..."

Amy stopped listening to both of them, looking at Sonic's body. She thought that all the stress was getting in her head, because she could've sworn that he was seeing him sweat and twitch, as if he was having a bad dream. She also thought his lips began to move, saying, "mother".

_Sonic's world..._

The snow drifted to Sonic's body, making him nearly frozen in his tracks. He continued to trek onwards, but he knew dying from hypothermia was possible. He was close to fainting. He could see that he was waning in and out of the world. He crouched, the snow being stuck in his quills and icicles starting to form.

It was then that he thought he was beginning to hallucinate. He saw a sky blue female hedgehog, walking to a cave off in the distance.

He had to follow her. Maybe she could help him. Maybe she knew what was going on. He rose, trudging towards her.

He saw that she was talking to a group of animals, wearing black hoods over themselves. He couldn't discern much from them, except they had quills that drooped down to their heads. He determined that they were echidnas. He couldn't pick up as to what they were saying, even when he moved closer. They seemed to be speaking in whispers. They continued to talk to the female hedgehog until their eyes moved. They had spotted him.

"Now this is awfully peculiar. I believe that this is..." one of them spoke, until another one silenced him.

"Who are you? Why are you here?"

Sonic's eyes were dull as he looked at them. "Does it even matter right now? I'm about to freeze to death." Sonic would usually tell people who he was, but he felt strange revealing his name to these people. And he was close to death. He fell to his knees, head slumped.

The echidnas nodded. "If you have enough strength, follow us. Our cave is warm."

Sonic once again stood up and followed them at a slug's pace.

The cave really wasn't dark, as torches lined up the walls. His walking speed became a little quicker, as he immediately began to feel better as he was sheltered from the cold. The echidnas looked back at him, then the female hedgehog. Sonic could also tell that she was pregnant, as her stomach was abnormally large. She could only give him a quizzical look as Sonic gazed at her.

"You look...very familiar. You look almost like my husband," she replied.

Sonic didn't say anything. He didn't know who she was or what her husband looked like. He could only shudder. Abruptly, she began to gasp and stumble on the floor.

"Give her room. She's in labor," one of the echidnas stated to him in a very calm manner, as if she was fine.

She emitted a scream, echoing all over the cavern and in Sonic's mind. She was in intense pain, as if a knife was stabbing her every time she contracted, but yet the echidnas did not falter.

"Breathe. You'll be alright," one of them whispered, holding her hand. Her face continued to wince as she hollered once again, it being so loud that Sonic had to cover his ears.

As soon as he let go, he heard crying. It was coming from a hoglet.

He moved in closer. He could see that the mother had shut her eyes, no longer breathing. The hoglet was blue with bright green eyes, with jagged quills on its head. It continued to bawl, one of the echidnas holding it to calm it down.

Another one of them checked the mother's pulse. "Brothers...I am afraid that she is...dead," he sorrowfully said.

The hoglet looked exactly like him. As he took a closer look, a realization came to him.

That hedgehog...was his mother. That hoglet...was him. He was taken back to the past, where he was born. He wondered why he was even here in the first place until the echidna elder began to speak.

"I see great things in this child's future, and I sense a great power within him."

"A great power? Could he possibly be the chosen..."

"Why yes! He is the one! The one that will bring Dr. Robotnik's reign into an end! He will be the one who will bring humans and animal-kind together! I see a very positive future for this child! Brothers, we have found him!"

"What name shall we bestow upon this child?"

"Sonic," he proclaimed. "Sonic the hedgehog!"

"Mother..."

He no longer felt cold. His scenery was completely different. He was back on the hill, Jr. staring at him. "Dad?"

He stopped holding his head and he rose. "What happened, dad? You just yelled a lot and said 'mother'."

He didn't know what just happened. He was suddenly in a cold winter area, watching his mother giving birth and dying right in front of him, and now he was back to his world. He couldn't find the reasoning for it, but he knew it was all like a dream. Seeming to move so fast and even forgetting some of the details.

"Jr., I think I just had a vision," he muttered.


	8. Chapter 8

They were inside the entrance of Adrenaline Cave, seeing that it was made of red granite, with many stalagmites lining the ceiling. It was silent, the only sound echoing throughout were the drops of water as they inched their way down the spikes.

"Well, this is supposed to be an exciting place, right? Then why is it so...quiet?" Sonic queried as he scanned the cave. His voice echoed, reaching the end of the cavern.

"Hey, that's cool! Is there someone inside this cave..."

"No, that's just an echo. Since the cave is hollow, it makes it seem like someone is repeating what you're saying, but..." He was silenced by a sudden quake that made many of the stalagmites shake, then drop to the floor, shattering in many pieces. One fell right in front of him, and he was nearly pierced by a giant one until he leaped out of the way and began to sprint. "Jr., let's get to the end of the cave quick! If we just sit here, we'll be done for!"

Jr. nod his head, then vanished in blue light.

The stalagmites crashed to the floor almost as quickly as Sonic and Jr. could run. Jr. was right by him, trying to keep up and occasionally look behind him. There were about a hundred shattered spikes lying on the floor, and the tidal wave was becoming quicker. The sound roared throughout the cave, making a few stalagmites fall ahead of him. "Dad, we need to go faster! These spike things are...are..." He was too frightened to say anything more. A cave needle nearly fell on him, and he started to pick up the pace, zigzagging to avoid them. Sonic gazed at him with a concerned look, then transformed to a determined face. He zoomed ahead, and so did his son, but the stalagmites seem to know how fast they were running. The rain of shards continued to pursue them.

Sonic came to a screeching halt as he came towards a ledge. He was a little ahead of the spikes, but he knew that wouldn't last long. He looked below and ahead of him. There was a bottomless drop in the middle of the chasm, but he saw many platforms passing by him in the speed of light. It was nearly impossible to spot them. He could fly over there with his new power, but there were stalagmites there too. He couldn't fly at the speed of light...

"Jr., I know this may seem scary, but we need to jump across those platforms as fast we can. I would fly over there, but the spikes above us would get me. Just when you see the platform, run..." He couldn't explain any further. They had to leap across it now. Sonic zipped onto the white stone platform, then in a zigzag pattern, hopped to the next one in blue streaks. There was a mushroom at the last platform, and he stomped on it in a flash, jumping to the next ledge. Jr. looked behind him, realizing if he delayed any longer, he would die. He jumped across from platform to platform as fast as Sonic, then followed suit with the mushroom.

The last of the stalagmites shook, then fell to the black void. Both of them could not hear them breaking at the bottom. The cave was now silent, the only sound echoing was dripping water.

"Wow, that was a close one!" Jr. wiped his brow while Sonic continued to look ahead of him. He could see that there was a symbol for ecstasy and excitement up ahead. He was close.

"We're not too far away from the next piece of my soul, Jr. I'm sure that this is where the next monster is at." Jr. said nothing, and they walked ahead.

Sonic thought that something strange would happen here, like when he went to the symbol for joy. He could see that there was a lake of fire in the distance. It was completely orange and yellow, with a few brown stones not covered by the lava. A few fireballs leaped out of the lake, making the same symbol. Sonic could see that the stones led to a path, where he could see a green jewel.

Sonic bounded to the stones, getting across the lake. He stopped on the middle stone, when something seemed to rise from the lava. It was a large, smooth black rock, completely unaffected by the sea of fire. It shone greatly from the fire's light. Sonic examined it as it sat there, silent as the last drops of lava slithered away from it.

Sonic jumped as something lunged towards his leg. He saw that the rock had a head, looking like a canine's, except its eyes were as bright as embers, staring at him angrily. Unexpectedly another head rose, howling, and another, barking fiercely. Flames and magma dripped from their mouths, as they growled at this intruder, their white teeth glistening. The dogs also had three tails, as sharp as knives. The Cerberus creature howled once more, fire shooting from its mouths.

Jr. was very afraid of this monster. The absolute sight of a creature like this made him quiver profusely. He could only stare onto this monster at its fiery eyes, like his father, trying to be brave, like his father said.

The dogs yanked their necks and snapped their jaws at three different directions, nearly getting Jr. until he jumped onto the other rock. Sonic leaped also, avoiding their grisly teeth. The dogs then breathed a stream of fire, all three of them moving it in different directions.

Both of them vaulted and avoided the fire, the steam making the both of them sweat. Sonic thought about this beast's weakness, and he could see colored jewels on all three of their necks. Maybe if he could fly over to the beast and have his son hit them, he would release the next emotion. He knew those jewels were their weak spot, like with the last beast he faced.

"Jr., hop on me. I know how we can send these puppies to the pound."

Jr. dashed to Sonic, avoiding the dogs' bite. He jumped on his back, and his magnificent wings sprouted from his quills. One of the dogs' heads craned its neck to chomp on them, but Sonic flew away just in time for its attack to miss.

He learned that the dogs seemed to have elastic necks, as they could stretch a far ways off in order to breathe fire and snap at him. It was difficult to target the jewels, as they kept on moving. He could try to tangle their necks, but they seemed to move faster than his wings. As the dogs spat out fireballs and tried to chomp on him, he glided sideways and down, trying to confuse them. Sonic caused one of them to bite its neighbor, but as he flew right in the middle, both Jr. slipped off his body, and the center dog captured him in his mouth. The dog whimpered, it being in great pain, as Sonic held onto the teeth, to avoid being swallowed.

As the dog's tongue attempted to grab him from his teeth, Sonic strained to say as it began to lick him. "Jr.! You must…hit the jewel in the dog's neck! Now!" Sonic still grasped the teeth as the tongue started to wrap around him, trying to pull him out.

Jr. had a chance. One dog was distracted from its bite, and another dog tried to bite the center one, fighting over their "food". He had to quickly react.

Jr. transformed into a ball and smashed the jewel on the dog's neck. It yelped as the jewel's shattered remains got all over the other heads. The first dog's head was stunned, the smooth black stone cracking and fragmenting to many pieces, then it slowly dissolved into ashes. It was gone. However, Jr. was falling rapidly, and his father was still inside the dog's mouth. He still couldn't get out.

"Jr.!" Sonic screamed, his voice bubbling. He struggled to move as the tongue finally overpowered him and yanked him out of his grip, before he punched the beast's teeth in an attempt to get out. It only caused his fist to retract in injury. He could only scream for his dear son's life, until it was muffled by the tongue.

Jr., could only think about the joy he experienced when he was with his dad. For some reason, he didn't think about his fate or the fate of his father. He looked at the ceiling, seeing that he was no longer falling, but rather floating in mid-air. He looked behind him to see that he, also, had butterfly wings. "Look dad! I can fly too!"

Although Sonic was currently stuck in the beast's tongue, he couldn't help but feel relieved. He was alright.

He looked ahead at the two-headed beast, no longer scared. One of the dogs growled at him fiercely, about to snap at him. But courage suddenly flowed into him, as did his feelings for joy. He hovered to them swiftly, dodging the other dog's bite, cannon-balling into the center dog's jewel. He crashed into it, the dog shocked. It also cracked and transformed into ash, releasing Sonic.

Sonic once again flew freely, his fur being drenched in saliva. However, he tried to ignore this, as he locked onto the next jewel. He barreled to the last canine, ready to attack.

The dog glared at both of them, it barking out several fireballs at them while gracefully running across the lava, a quake creating giant splashes of magma. The splashes seemed to suddenly curve at an angle, making cylindrical tidal waves towards them.

Both of them easily dodged the blasts of flames, but the lava wave seemed to be unavoidable. It was growing larger as it absorbed the magma, becoming too high for them to not be able to fly over.

"Tame the beast…tame the beast…" Sonic chanted incessantly. This magma wave was hurling towards them, and all he could think of was another way he could defeat the monster. He began to feel feelings of excitement flow through him, thinking maybe it could unlock some sort of power within him. _Tame the beast…tame the beast…I have to take chances. There's no other way I could avoid this anyways._

He dived towards the lava, his son immediately thinking his father suddenly became crazy and suicidal. He wanted to stop him, to at least have him live for a few more seconds, but he was very astonished to see that his father was not burnt at all. He was still alive, and his feet became black hard rock shoes, as black as the dog's body, and he was climbing the magma. Although he was a litter slower than usual, he managed to climb the mountain of lava quickly, reaching the other fire wall. He scaled the other hill as well, almost as twice as fast, and then like a bullet, he shot through the last dog's jewel.

The dog emitted a whimper, its tail down between his legs before it also rusted away to ash. The wind carried it away, the ash flying off to the end of the tunnel, being replaced by a gray jewel that refracted the light from the lava. Sonic once again let his wings free, as he captured it in his hands.

"Dad! Let's get to your soul, quick!" Sonic could only agree as he raced with his son, both of them soaring to the edge of the cavern.

The jewel of ecstasy and excitement. He could now express another emotion. He reached for the gem, then once again, his world turned black, with a white light being flashed before his eyes.

"Hello, Sonic the hedgehog."

He could see an anthropomorphic woman approach him. She was half dog, half woman, as she had dog-like features in the bottom half of her body, and a human body on the top. She was also quite beautiful, as she had long, brown hair that reached to her knees and long white fur that flowed down from her neck, covering her breasts.

"I am the emotion of Ecstasy and Excitement. Thank you and your son for releasing me from that atrocious beast. I am sorry if I hurt you in any way..."

"You didn't really hurt me. Not that much, anyways. Now, I got a question. Before I went to this cave, I..."

"I cannot speak of that, Sonic. You must find that out yourself."

"Well, I know that that was when I was born, but...why are you showing me thi-..." The woman put a finger to his mouth, stopping him.

"You will find out soon enough. Now, what you must do up ahead.

"The next continent is Love. This land is strong, as like the other lands, they haven't been invaded by No Name, but they are running out of strength. They are becoming weaker and weaker, becoming more and more depressed. I'm sure once they see you and you'll help them, they'll be able to go against No Name again. This is also the last of the Alpha lands before things get a lot rougher. On your way, you also need to be careful of the Disorders."

"Isn't this one guy named Paranoid a part of the Disorders? I met him and I was able to make him not hurt us, but..."

"Yes. Paranoid is one of them. You also need to be careful of Obsessive Compulsive, Schizoid, Schizotypal, Borderline, Avoidant, Histrionic, Narcissistic, and their leader, Antisocial. Seeing as how you have reached me, they'll be now more determined than ever to end your quest. You cannot allow them to do that, okay?"

Sonic nodded. "I know. Say, what happens when I...you know. Die?"

"I cannot reveal a lot of information to you..." She bowed her head. "There is no heaven or hell in this land. You just simply disappear. Forever."

Sonic thought about this. How could there not be a heaven or hell? He did believe in one! Maybe this is what happened when No Name invaded. He made it so everybody would believe in him, as he was their god now.

"Sonic, I cannot stay here any longer. You must venture forth into the next land. I hope the sun's and the sea's good luck remains within you."

She vanished in a burst of white light, making Sonic go back to his own world.

He grabbed the jewel. He felt the burst of energy sink into him. Excitement. Whenever he went on adventures, he would feel this. The gem remained on his hands, until it grew faint and faded into the air. It was inside him now.

"Dad, I know you're happy and all, but we got to get out of here! This cave is falling apart!" He glanced around him. The cavern was suddenly fragmented, becoming cracked like glass. The floor started to break apart under his feet, crumbling into the void.

Sonic and Jr. noticed that they were falling from the sky, as they saw the red sun rise in the distance as they fell into the golden yonder.


	9. Chapter 9

He didn't know how the cavern was in the sky, but it didn't matter to both of them. He somehow couldn't unveil his wings to get down on the ground safely. Jr. also tried to fly, with no avail It seemed as if the force of gravity was too strong for them. Sonic could see a brown thing in the distance, and it got bigger until finally, he landed on it.

It was yet another ship. Except its rows were replaced by silver wings that kept it aloft. In the middle of the rows were giant, beautiful shining white wings, the tips of the feathers scarlet. He could also see blue wings at the top of the pillars and a dragon was carved in the front of the boat, its fierce eyes and its fangs threatening. Sonic looked at the pillars, seeing that the sails were covered with golden and pink light; the morning sky. He hypothesized that as the first ship he saw brought the night, this ship brought the morning.

He and the little one were silent as they saw a light blue haired lady approach them. Her hair's tips reached her ears, and she had a soft hue of blue eyes that concentrated on them. She wore a leather shirt; armor, and black pants.

"Hello...there. I see that you're the creator of this world, Sonic. I am...Dawn," she shyly recited, as she took a bow.

"Dawn, eh? Are you...sisters with Eve or something, because..."

"Why yes. We are sisters, and we are both responsible for bringing the day and night of this world. I see that you've met her."

"Yeah, your sister rescued me but she doesn't believe I can save this world. She says she's not really impressed with me."

"Ignore her, Sonic. My sister just doesn't believe in many people. Doesn't trust males that much, either." Dawn steered the ship to go down slowly, as she knew that Sonic and Jr.'s next destination was the continent of Love. Sonic was quiet, as he couldn't figure out what else to say. Dawn was, of course, the exact opposite of her sister. She was shy and probably thought that he was able to bring back the pieces of the land together. He looked below on the earth and could see the continent. It was, as Sonic thought, in the shape of a heart. Even though he gained back his emotion of excitement, he could see that the lands were not together. Maybe Love was just an island.

He took a short glance at Jr. He was tired, yawning. He looked again at the golden empyrean and saw something. It was large, black, menacing, with a glow of six red lights, and it was coming towards them.

"Dawn! Jr.! Something is headed towards us!"

Dawn inspected the black thing that was hovering to them. "Oh dear...Sonic...this is bad...really bad..."

"What is it?"

"It's...It's..." Dawn couldn't speak any longer as a blast of flames hit the boat, Jr. and the others no longer drowsy as the boat began to tremor fervently.

The flames were growing bigger as they devoured the ship's wood. It began to flap its wings more rapidly, in an attempt to gale them away.

"I want you two to go inside the ship and fetch some water from the kitchen to douse these flames! Hurry!" Dawn hued nervously. She could only cast her gaze on the approaching figure. She knew who this was. This was the first time her ship was attacked, but she wasn't going to go down without a fight. She knew her sister would do the same thing.

The faucet ran, the water being retrieved inside a bucket. Sonic carried two, Jr. only one, and they came back as quick as lightning, the flames becoming smaller by the seconds. When the fire was nearly a spark, Sonic could see what this thing was. It was the same raven that he saw when he was walking in the land of Joy, with its four wings and many eyes. The raven also had ram horns on its head, and its talons were made out of metal, while blood dripped from them. He remembered what the man said about it. It was No Name; he found out that the blue hedgehog wasn't a pushover. He opened its beak, screeching out an abnormal caw. Sonic and the others immediately placed their hands over their ears, thinking they were going to bleed.

The raven landed on the ship, its feet utterly destroying the deck. The wood cracked and splintered, however, the boat still did not manage to drop down to the earth, its wings still vibrating erratically.

Its thousand eyes peered down on them. Sonic started to express...fear. He could also see it on the others. Dawn looked worried, and Jr. began to shake, but tried to restrain himself from hiding behind or grabbing his father. There was something about this raven that seemed to emanate the feeling. Maybe because it was just frightening to look at, or this thing was so insane that it began to call itself a god. The raven once again hollered its ear-shattering cry, and began to levitate in the sky.

Sonic could not move. There was something about his eyes...no, he could not let this thing kill him or the others. He could not stop staring at it. He felt as if he was crippled with this feeling. He then mimicked Jr. and shook. Something was making his body do this. As if something was inside him and was going to come out.

A strange thought went in his head.

He wanted to die. This was all he could think as the raven, for some peculiar reason, glided over the ship and into the distance.

"Sonic?"

His heart began to beat quickly, as if it wanted to be released. Jr. and Dawn could only stand there, watching him. He was hallucinating vividly. Voices. Cheering and screaming. He didn't know what was going on.

"Doctor! Sonic's...not breathing!"

"Get an ETT in him! Stat!"

Amy could only look onward in horror. Sonic was just fine a second ago! What caused him to suddenly get a tube inserted his throat?

Blurs. This was all he could see as suddenly they shoved something inside of him. He could only close his eyes as one doctor began to look at him curiously.


	10. Chapter 10

"Daddy! Please wake up! I don't want you to die! Never!"

He woke up. As his eyes adjusted, he could see Jr. looming over him, with little tears in his eyes. Dawn was busy, wringing a cloth over the sink. He knew he was still inside the ship, but he didn't know what happened. He didn't even know he fainted. Dawn strolled towards him, with the wet cloth in her hand.

"This is good. Sonic's up. How are you feeling?"

"I feel like...that something is pushing against my head and it's going to burst...what happened back there?"

"Oh, what happened..." She blushed. "You remember that No Name just attacked our ship, right?"

The memory resurfaced. Yes, the raven. He remembered being frozen in fear when he saw it. And then...blackness. He nodded.

"Well, you were...really terrified of No Name or something...you stood there, shaking all over, and then...you dropped to the floor. We then took you in here."

"Are we in Love now? As far as I can remember, we took some pretty heavy damage back there."

"Yes, you're right. We are in Love. I had to stop here because of what No Name did to the ship. It will...take a while before morning can come back here..."

Sonic took a look at the window. It was now night. Although it was dark, he could see the blue moon being reflected in the distance. And a few yellow lights. He suddenly heard something knock on the door of the ship. Dawn at once picked up the sound and ambulated towards and answered it. "Hello, can I help you?"

"Actually, it would be more like what I can do to help you. I heard a crash and I thought someone was hurt..."

Sonic craned himself to see the visitor. She was an old human, with large thick glasses, wearing floral patterns on her shirt. She was holding a first-aid kit.

"Well...one of the passengers on the boat fainted, but he's fine now. I'm actually quite amazed that we ended up unhurt from the crash," she replied to her, the old woman wearing a surprised expression on her face.

"Oh dear! Fainted? Where is he?"

"Well, it's not like he fainted on the crash or anything..." she tried to reassure her, as the lady marched to Sonic and Jr.

"Oh, aren't you a darling? I don't think you were the one who fainted, as you seem quite lively..." she said to Jr. as she pinched his cheeks. He groaned and pointed to his father, she stopping his embarrassment. "So you were the one who..."

"Lady, I'm fine. I really don't need your..." Sonic was cut off from the lady shoving a thermometer in his mouth and an ice pack on his head. "Just sit for a while as I take your temperature. The bump in the head might've made you delusional."

"No, really, he's fine. Thanks for helping us out, but really, we don't need it right now..." Dawn mumbled as she found out the old lady was ignoring her. Jr. also was silent, thinking that she would close him out.

She soon yanked the thermometer from his mouth. "98.6...Well, I guess he is fine. So says the thermometer, anyways...I'll be leaving. If any of you need help or anything, you can just come back to my place. It's not too far away from here." She shook her head slowly, then departed for the door. All of them did not say a word until she left.

"Man, what was that all about? Isn't it because this place..."

"Yes. Love is a very strange place, Sonic. Expect to see that more often..."

Sonic rose and unfurled his map. He could see a white glowing light in the right corner of the continent. He could also see the words, "Crystal Forest" illuminate from his map. There was another place, called The Heart Temple. He knew that this was where he needed to go to next.

"I would like to stay and chat, but I got a few places to go to. We'll see you later, Dawn."

"I'll tell you when the ship is fixed...which will take a while...so you better occupy yourselves for a while..."

Sonic nodded, Jr. following along. They went out the door, leaving Dawn in the darkness.

Sonic could not see what the land really looked like, due to the dark. The only thing he could catch was the ground was a very bright pink, from what he could see from the lamps. If it wasn't for the lamps that were scattered all over the land and the townsfolk bringing lanterns with them, he wouldn't be able to pick up anything. Luckily they were lighting his path to his next destination. The road ahead of him swiveled to a hill far away from them, which according to the map led to the Temple.

Jr. glimpsed at the air around him, tiny yellow sparks of light catching his attention. He attempted to grab them; the sparks being too swift for his hands. Many of them whirled and flew away, creating an oval around the path. They began to walk on it, the lights beckoning them to move further. Sonic's feet stopped, however, when he saw someone approach him.

"Hello...you are Sonic the hedgehog, are you not?" The voice was smooth, reassuring, and seemed to belong to a woman. As Sonic tried to look beyond the darkness, he saw a smirking face smeared with red lipstick, white teeth sparkling in the night. He could also catch sight of her eyes, which were a deep royal blue. Otherwise, not much else. Every other part of her was sucked into the blackness.

"Yeah...I'm Sonic. What do you..."

"Oh, aren't you a sexy one? No one ever told me...err, I mean...what are you doing around these parts, you hunk of a hog?"

"Dad..." Jr. mumbled. "This one is...not good."

He glared at the woman, who appeared to him under the lamp. She was also a hedgehog, light blue, with a tuft of blond hair on her head. She was wearing a black dress, with high black stiletto heels. She continued to grin, despite her cover being blown.

"Oh...I'm sorry that brat is with you, or else I could've tricked you and we could've lived a happy life together. Forget about your soul, you can just live with me for eternity. Whether you like it or not, that is what's going to happen!" Sonic quickly dodged both of her kicks. He rotated and attacked her directly in the chest, knocking her backwards, but she was still standing.

Sonic ran to her in a flash, ready to punch her. She gripped his fist, and arched his arm upwards, him flinching in pain. Jr., however, charged towards her in the back, making her fall to the ground with Sonic.

She was on top of him, and he tried to kick her off, but she seemed to staple his feet to the earth. He realized that her fingers transformed to claws that seemed to weigh a hundred pounds each. He could not move his arms. He could only squirm as she beamed at him, staring into his eyes.

"You know...if I trap your little brat, I could make it so you forget about your journey and live with me forever...come on, just think about it..." Her claws dug deeper into his arms. "Being happy for the rest of your life...no longer having any worries...catering to me at my whim...it's a good life..."

"No! I'm not planning on living with you or staying here! All I want is to get my soul back so I can get back to my life!" he barked.

"Really? Well, you have no other choice!" she screeched, as the bottom half of her body transformed to a serpent's tail, constructed out of stone. Her tail gripped around Jr. tightly, who was just planning another assault. She began to squeeze, Jr. crying as he struggled to get out.

"Well, look at that. You have no where else to go. The only thing you can do now is receive a kiss from me...or else the child gets it!" She jostled him a little further, nearly crushing his lungs.

Why was she threatening him that she would crush his child? He obviously didn't had much of a choice. He did not want to surrender, but yet it was like she chose his fate for him. She prepared to kiss him, her leaning closer to him. He tried to push her off of him, but the claws were stiff and strong. It was until her rocky serpent tail grew another tail and began to wrap itself around him. There was no escape. Her lips tasted his. He closed his eyes, as he began to struggle.

A scream. He unveiled his eyes to see that a sword was stuck in her back. Black blood began to spray from her, her still smiling as she saw the perpetrator.

Sonic couldn't see the backstabber, as he was covered in the darkness, but he could see a gem gleam from the distance. The snake tail grew yet another limb and it lunged towards the swordsman. With a silver spark of light, the tail was lopped off, the woman once again lamenting in hurt.

"So you got another friend? Well, I'm not going to be playing anymore! Enough with this!"

Sonic grimaced as the young face suddenly morphed into one that belonged to an old woman with no eyes and maggots devouring her face. Her neck grew longer, and her body became more elongated. Sonic was freed, stepping back to see that she has grown even larger. Jr. was still trapped within the tail, until the swordsman also sliced it off, letting him go. The tail instantaneously grew back, it moving like a freight towards them.

The child leaped on the tail, darting towards the neck. Her head u-turned, her empty mouth blasting fire into his vicinity.

He was stuck in an endless loop. Chopping tail after tail was growing old for him. It was then that the swordsman began to speak. "Catch the sword! Go for her stomach! Hurry!"

He tossed the sword towards Sonic on the ground, the tails immediately blitzing towards her.

The tails were severed, they landing on the ground and rotting in dissolving black sludge. The flames were then deflected away from Jr. He knew who this was. His father. Sonic glanced back at him, as the sword was turning crimson and was quivering from the force. The maggoted face halted the stream, then sprightly smashed her empty mouth into Sonic, capturing him with her mouth and swallowing him. Jr. and the swordsman could see Sonic going down her esophagus.

"She...ate him! Dad!" Jr. cried, rushing towards her throat and punching and kicking it. It was too thick to do any damage. She only laughed as her tails once again grabbed a hold of the swordsman and Jr.

"Why...what a special treat! I can eat both of you, like I did to your dear daddy! I did want him to live eternally with me, but I guess him being digested is close enough!" she sneered to Jr., him growling in return.

"My dad is still alive! You didn't chew your food while he had the sword, right?"

A pause. Her last words were, "Oh, dear".

Her stomach was split open as Sonic sliced through her body, him covered with black blood. She could only gargle loudly as the blood dripped from her mouth. Her head and neck fell to the earth with a loud thud.

Her body shone luminously thereafter, many yellow sparks replacing the blood and the decaying body. They surged upward, disappearing into the sky.

She was gone.

"Wow, I didn't know you had it in you, Sonic! I'm quite impressed!" As the swordsman got closer to the light, he could see who it was now. The woman who was originally indifferent about him. Eve. She smiled a little as she saw Jr. hurrying to his father, hugging him.

"Dad! I knew you would make it through...even though I thought you were weird lady food for a while..."

Sonic could only chuckle, but his laughter was stopped short by suddenly recognizing that Eve said the words, "I'm quite impressed".

"Umm...I mean, you couldn't have done it without my sword! If you didn't had it, we would all be meals to that ugly thing!" She snatched her sword from Sonic and returned it to its sheath.

Sonic also smirked a bit. "Well, why don't you just say you're impressed with me? There's no use hiding it."

"Well, to be truthful with you, if it wasn't for me saving your butts, you would be goners. The only reason why I came here was because my sister said you could use my help. This road is going to be more dangerous from now on, because that monster you faced was no pushover."

"Who was that monster anyways? Was she a part of the Disorders gang?"

"Yes. Her name is Histrionic. She has...well, had, the power to shapeshift, including her most used form, a beautiful hedgehog woman. And you were almost done for there, Sonic. If she would've kissed you any longer, you would've been under her spell and your journey would've ended right there. And that ugly face...that was what she really looked like. Gross." She stuck her tongue out in disdain.

"So...I'm guessing you're coming with us to the Heart Temple?" Sonic inquired.

"Well...since the morning ship is done for for now, I figure I might as well tag with you. Besides, it does seem like you need my help, seeing as how you're..." she lifted one of his thin arms and examined it. "Kind of weak."

"Weak! We're talking about the same..."

"Yeah, I know. I live inside your head, you know," she added.

Sonic didn't want to have another argument. He was actually quite happy that he got someone to join him on his journey. The more people the better, he thought.

They all went down the path, as a few lights followed them.


	11. Chapter 11

The lights fluttered to and fro as Sonic and the others scaled the hill to the Heart Temple. The temple was brown with golden ridges, with mosaic glass windows, mostly splashed with blue and red tiles. It towered to the heavens, seeming as if its ascent never ended. Its design was similar to the churches that Sonic would see on his travels, except it was certainly a lot taller than the ones he encountered.

The doors were open, and he could make out a silhouette coming out of them. It looked like a hedgehog-like figure, until further inspection revealed that it was really an echidna. His fur color was exactly like Knuckles', except he had very aberrant eyes. One of them was yellow, the other was a clock that currently told what time it was. He also wore a silk cloak that had embroideries of the fiery sun and the icy moon. Sonic could only stare at this marvel; the second hand going forward a while before the creature spoke.

"I see that you are Sonic, the creator of this land. I am the guardian of the heart. I was expecting you. Please follow me."

As the echidna faded into the temple, Sonic could only gaze at the others until he stepped forth and followed him.

The temple was almost completely white with light. There was a floating lamp that lightened the inside, giving Sonic and the others a good look around. The floor was painted with a blue moon covered with ice, a purple carpet leading to a green platform. The other side of the temple had a sun blazing, also leading to a platform.

"Hey...what's this all about? The sun and moon stuff?" Sonic asked as the echidna rotated around to face him.

"These are teleporters. When you have achieved the emotion of love, you can use this teleportation device on the left to go to the Omega land." He resumed walking further into the temple. Sonic and the others followed him upstairs, until they went inside the next room.

Sonic concluded that this was indeed a church, as it also had pews and an altar. The seats were all completely empty, except the altar had something that caught his eye.

A heart that shone like the sun. He could hear it beating faintly, pumping light into the temple. Sonic and the others had to shield their eyes from it, nearly blinding them. The guardian stared at them listlessly with his golden eye as he spoke.

"Sonic...your journey will become much more difficult as soon as you reach the Omega lands. There, your heart will be tested. You will have to overcome the trials of rage, hate, and misery. If you survive, you will face the final test: the distant land of Hope, where you will battle the ruler of your mind, No Name. I cannot tell you how you can defeat No Name as I do not know, but I do have an idea that can help you.

"The Emotion Gems. I see that you have collected the Pearl of Joy and the Opal of Ecstasy. If you receive all of them, you can unlock your heart, which contains a power that can defeat him. However, it's up to you on how you can control this power. I cannot tell you much else other than that." Sonic nodded, as the guardian continued. "Before I give you something that will help you on your journey, you must remember this, Sonic: do not let your emotions get to you. I know it seems simple now, but you will see if you go on to the Omega lands. Emotions can be very dangerous weapons. They can allow the self and others to manipulate, lie, steal, and kill. However, if we allowed a world where everyone couldn't express anything...then life would be so bland and trivial. In fact, I think living like a zombie is a frightening thought. You must be strong and continue onward, no matter how great the pain you receive. I have blabbered on for far too long...although this may not seem like much, what I will give you can be a great asset for your journey." The echidna motioned for Sonic to hold out his hand, his palm tightly clenched around a round object. He unfurled it, Sonic discovering that it was a translucent green orb.

"That is an egg. Since it found the creator, it will hatch in...now." Sonic flinched and let go of the egg promptly as it flashed a brilliant emerald light; a sound that seemed as if it belonged to a machine, echoing across the temple. He could see a small bright white figure emerging, a burst of golden rays of light disappearing after a few seconds.

It was a maroon chipmunk-like creature, sporting a tail like a rabbit's, a jade orb on his chest, and green fairy wings. He was hovering in the air, looking up at the hedgehog.

"Chip? Is that you?" he gazed at him curiously. He was about to touch him, checking to see if he was real.

"Chip? Who's...Chip?" he queried anxiously. He shoved away his finger with all of the strength he had, not desiring to be examined.

"Dad, do you know this...thing? Whatever it is?" Jr. held out the palm of his hand, the chipmunk creature deciding to roost on it.

"Yeah. He's Light Gaia, but I decided to call him Chip because he didn't remember who he was. But I think he lost his memory again..."

"Indeed, this is the guardian of Light Gaia. Not only do you need to reclaim your soul, Sonic, but you need to be rid of all of the dark gaia in your mind. This 'Chip' fellow can help you with that.

"However, I must warn you. If you let your dark emotions control you...let's say that this creature will have an insatiable appetite for blue hedgehogs..." Jr. yelped once he said "blue hedgehogs", drawing his hand back from the fairy.

"So you mean...that thing can turn evil?" Eve pointed to him. The echidna closed his eye and gave an affirmative.

"This is all the advice I can give you, Sonic. However, once you receive the Ruby of Love, come back and put it on the altar with your heart, for safekeeping. You can also use the teleportation device to go to the next world if you defeat the monster up ahead."

"Okay...let's go, gang. Next up on the map is the Crystal Forest. That monster isn't going to be defeated by itself!"

All of them agreed, being silent. They walked downstairs, the echidna left alone.

"Good luck, Sonic. You're going to need it. If only you understood how difficult this is going to be later on..." he muttered.


	12. Chapter 12

The Crystal Forest reflected the moon, blue ripples being displayed on the water. There were no longer any lights that shone a path for Sonic and the others to walk, but Chip's orb suddenly became radiant, creating a flashlight for them.

"Wow...a forest made of crystal..." Jr. said, while he saw himself being refracted by a blue-green jewel tree. Sonic himself was impressed by the beauty of the land. The crystals were an assortment of shapes and sizes and colors. Some were shaped exactly like a tree or grass, some were just elongated and twisted. Some were clear, some were a mixture, such as green and purple. It was as if a great glass artist constructed the forest.

Sonic began to step on the smooth icy ground, him being afraid that it would crack under his feet. It seemed to be strong enough to hold his weight. He resumed walking into the forest, the others following suit.

Sonic could swear he was seeing strange images while he looked at his own reflection on the road, on the mushrooms, rocks, and trees, anything. He saw things such as his werehog form, staring back at him with an irritated look, as if he's done something wrong to him. A very dark blue hedgehog with rage in his eyes. Him...decaying. He couldn't help but stop and look at a rock that showed him a dead hedgehog. It was all like a train wreck. He knew he shouldn't pay attention to them, but he couldn't cast his gaze away. The others were wondering what he was doing.

"Daddy...are you alright? You look...nervous." Jr. put his hand on his shoulder, Sonic paying attention.

"I'm fine. I just can't help but look at this...dead hedgehog that looks like me."

Jr. turned his head to the rock. "I don't see anything, dad."

"I know why Sonic is seeing things that we can't see, Jr. It's because this forest...is reflecting his life, his future, and all the parts of him."

Sonic glanced back at Eve. "So, this is...my future, huh? Well, I know I'd be dead someday, but..."

There was a field of grass that caught his attention. He hurried to it, watching the assortment of images that were playing. There was a girl, with short brown hair, wearing a white dress, walking with him across a green hill. He scrutinized the movie that was playing, realizing that he never saw this woman in his life and he's never been to that land. Why couldn't he remember her? This was possibly playing a time in his life, one that he probably blocked from his mind.

"What are you seeing?" Chip inquired, while the others were gathered around him.

"There's this...beautiful woman walking with me. We're talking, but I can't hear anything...I'm wondering why this forest is even playing this. I don't remember this! This never happened!" he growled angrily.

"It's alright, Sonic. No need to..." Eve reached out to him with a reassuring hand, Sonic slapping it away, swiftly turning around and snarling.

"Sonic! What is up with you? I'm just trying to help!" Eve retracted her hand away from him, shocked.

Sonic's face softened, him breathing heavily as if there was little oxygen. He realized what he did.

"I'm...sorry, Eve. I'm just frustrated that I can't remember this..." Sonic looked at Chip, realizing his colors were slightly a shade darker.

_I'm not going to do that again...not going to snap at anyone again..._ Sonic contemplated to himself, regretful. He shook his head, deciding to no longer view what was going on in the grass. He thought that he should no longer get distracted and just get to the monster.

One crystal he ignored was him on his knees, crying, then fading into the darkness.

He began seeing glass flowers the farther he went, their colors becoming more bright and more numerous. He suddenly noticed that he started to step on a few, the beautiful neon glass shattered under his feet, making a crunch sound that echoed throughout the woods. He stopped, the forest being silent except for the crickets chirping. It was until he heard a ringing noise being uttered into the deeper parts of the woods.

_Riiing..._

Seeing a path that led to a blue mountain, with a waterfall in the middle in the distance, with no flowers in it, he began to run towards the sound, his image being returned on the plants. He could see Shadow the hedgehog near him, reminding him of one of the battles he undertook.

_Riiiinggg..._

The sound again. He vanished in a blue streak, Jr. mimicking him in order to catch up.

Sonic could tell the path was ending, as he saw glass trees holding crystal apples on every side and a cavern inside the waterfall. The only thing not crystal was the mountain and the two mushrooms that reached the skies that were beside it. Jr. appeared to him a few seconds later, his head moving left to right as he looked, curious about the apples. Sonic didn't felt like waiting for the others. He went ahead to the cavern, Jr. not noticing as he tried to get the fruit.

"Hello little one! I assume you want this crystal apple, do you not?" Jr. moved his head to the right and saw a familiar stick-thin creature. It was Bilan, the happy side of him holding onto an apple that had a pea green liquid inside of it.

"You better not do that..."

"Shut up! He wants the apple, doesn't he? Why do you continue to tell me to do things?"

"Because if you give him that, something bad will happen. Something not good at all."

Jr. gazed up at them, once hearing that "something bad will happen" not making him hungry anymore. "Thanks, but no thanks. I don't want it now."

"Oh, why not? Your father just ditched you! And it's been a while since you had something in your stomach, hmm? You know, it looks like a liquid, but it satisfies hunger! Just poke a hole in it and drink it!"

"Damn it, Bilan. Don't do this..." The depressed side of him tried to snatch the apple away from him, his reaction time being too slow for the joyful side.

Jr. knew he shouldn't drink it. If the depressed side knew something wrong would happen, then he shouldn't. But he thought he shouldn't fight the next monster with an empty stomach...no, he had to resist. He began to walk away, following the path of his father, until the joyful side suddenly turned bright red, his eyes becoming narrow.

"You listen to me you dumb shit! Eat the damn apple! I swear nothing bad would happen! You have my promise!"

Jr. sniffled, then began to swell with tears. He just wanted to leave, but his yelling scared him out of his wits for him to go away.

"Here!" He tossed the apple to him, Jr. catching it.

He really did feel bad. Bilan, overall, was a scary creature, and he thought he couldn't escape from them. He also just wanted his crying to stop. He took his finger, poking a hole in the apple, which felt like he was shoving it through cotton, and began to drink it.

It tasted good. It was a sweet flavor, and it felt refreshing as he began to swallow it. He immediately stopped crying, feeling better.

However, he felt like he sinned. He knew he wasn't supposed to do it. He could taste that there was something wrong with the liquid, such as it was poisoned or...something worse. It could've had some evil power inside it. He started to feel sick, him falling on his knees, clutching his stomach.

"Dad...dad...help..." he whispered, his voice becoming raspy and weak. He didn't had enough strength to scream, and he wished he could; he felt as if he was going to fade away. His face was flushed, breathing becoming harder.

His eyes turned to the left, seeing that Eve and Chip finally arrived. Eve thought about complaining about Sonic leaving them alone, until she saw his son, coughing erratically.

"Jr.! What happened? Can you tell me?"

He couldn't speak. He smashed his teeth together, grunting and shaking his head no.

She examined the scene. Near Jr. was a glass apple, completely devoid of liquid, and near the tree, the creature Bilan.

"Oh no...Bilan! What did you do to this poor child? Why did you made him do this?" she yelled, gripping the apple and pointing to it.

"Hey, he brought it to himself! Since he ate from the tree, this paradise...will disappear! And Sonic will never experience this feeling again! No Name will prevail!"

Sonic emerged from the darkness in the cavern, finding nothing but him filled with a rage that consumed him. He saw his son, sick, about ready to pass out, Eve holding him. Bilan was laughing, while the depressed side was crying.

He vanished, both Bilans experiencing a painful jab to the face, falling face first onto the ground. As they tried to get back up, they felt the force of a thousand fists hitting them at once, bleeding and blackened.

It was happening too fast. Eve and Chip knew what was going on. Sonic, enraged that his child became sick, was trying to kill Bilan. Eve rose swiftly, seeing enough. "Sonic! _Stop it, stop it, stop it!_"

Bilan was bleeding severely when Sonic came to a stop. He still had his hand formed as a fist, gazing angrily at Eve.

Jr. was once again crying. He has never seen his father acting this way. He was being protective, but this was too far for him.

Sonic turned away his eyes from them and looked back at Bilan. "What did you do to Jr.? I swear, if you're going to kill him..."

"I'm sorry...happy Bilan is...with No Name. He wanted to kill this forest...trying to kill a part of you. I couldn't stop him..."

A surge of remorse filled him again. He caused enough damage to Bilan that he nearly killed him. This wasn't him at all.

"Sonic, what the hell has gotten into you? I can understand that you're angry because they made Jr. sick, but...this doesn't justify what you did!"

Silence. That was all he could think. He didn't look at anyone until Bilan rose, him becoming thicker and taller.

"No, it does justify what he did. We are...the beast he's looking for. We are the beast of love. This actually isn't...our form."

Bilan twitched, the two of them being torn apart. They were separated, the joyful side transforming into what seemed to be a shield with a maniacal smile. It was blue, a small part of it on fire. The depressed side of him became longer and sharper, into an icy sword with the crescent moon on the handle. They were exactly that: a sword and shield.

The Crystal Forest seemed to be melting, its colors being mixed together into the ground. The field of flowers was also suffering, also dissolving into the earth. The land was dying.

"Are you ready, Sonic? If you defeat us in less than five minutes, the Crystal Forest remains...if not, or you don't defeat us, you may never feel love again!" The shield began to laugh.

Jr., despite his weakness, got up slowly. He knew that this was now a battle, and no matter how sick he was, he would fight them. He had to help his father.

Sonic could immediately find the weak spot. The middle of the sword. But he knew the shield would be a problem. He had to get rid of it somehow.

The two began the fight by swiping their large sword at Sonic, him leaping out of the way. Once Sonic's feet reached the earth, the sword was thrusting towards him, nearly stabbing him in the side until Sonic jumped to the left. Eve charged towards the large sword, nearly getting the weak spot until the shield shifted to the right, blocking her attack and making her sword red with heat. Jr., using all of his strength to run towards the shield, Chip following him, attempted to roll under it in order to sneak attack on the sword. The shield, in a flash, blocked his attack, the bottom of it luckily not on fire. Jr. jumped back, the sword charged towards him. As the sword attempted to attack him, Sonic homed in on the weak spot, curling up in a ball and hitting it.

"Good job, you guys! Too bad you only got 4 minutes left!"

In the middle of the shield, metal spikes began to protrude from it. There was a glowing gem in the middle of it, a weak spot being protected from the spikes and flames.

Sonic wondered about this weak spot. How was he going to get to it without stabbing himself or putting himself on fire? He didn't have enough time to think, as the sword was launched towards him. Sonic shifted behind it, the sword's attack missing. Sonic attempted to get to the weak spot on the sword by hitting it in light speed, but the shield was just as quick as he was. As soon as he was face to face with the shield, it sputtered flames and hot air.

A burn was starting to form on his arm, until Jr. hit another jewel fragment on the sword, the shield halting its fire. The sword, in retaliation, propelled a blast of ice and snow towards him.

Jr. was about to move, until something struck him in the stomach. The apple liquid he drank earlier...it was making him sick again. He had to get through the pain, lest he would be frozen. He tried to move his feet, but it was like they were transformed to lead.

He experienced nothing. Opening his eyes to see what was going on, a green shield was protecting him from the cold. He could also see Chip ahead of him, with his arm stretched.

He could only lay there. He was now too ill to move. He shut his eyes, sleeping away.

"What's wrong with Jr.? And how is Chip..." The Bilan shield tried to tackle him, him once again disappearing and dodging its assault.

"3 minutes..."

"Sonic, he will be okay! You just...focus on beating these guys!" Chip grunted, shifting the large shield to Jr.'s body. He flitted towards him, deciding to stand guard. He could only warily look at the shield and the sword, as they kept their attention towards Sonic and Eve.

The sword projectiled yet another wave of snow and ice while the shield exhaled flames. Both Sonic and Eve rolled out of the way, and in a blast of blue light, Sonic hit yet another jewel shard inside the sword.

The sword dropped to the earth. It was beginning to fade away, its light flashing and dulling.

"I am sorry, Sonic...please defeat Bilan, or else this land will go away..." the sword said, while it vanished into nothingness.

"Well, one down, another one to go, Sonic. But how are we going to get to that shield's weak spot?" Eve said to him.

There seemed to be no way he could get to it. He couldn't just simply attack it, neither could Jr., and her sword probably couldn't get close enough. Maybe Chip...

"I have an idea, Eve. Bring Chip over here and protect Jr. Do it before we run out of time..."

"Only 2 minutes, you numb skulls! You will never defeat me this way!" it snickered.

Chip flew towards him in a hurry. "What is it, Sonic? Do you have a plan?"

"Can you do anything that will hit those weak spots? I know that Eve, Jr., and I can't. You must have something!"

He knew this version of Chip was different. He didn't know how he suddenly got the ability to create shields, but he could possibly have some more powers than that.

"I'll try this out, Sonic..." The shield continued to laugh at them, until a flurry of ice shards began to hit his flames. Although they were generally weak, it did douse the flames, showing a jewel shard. Sonic homed in on it, and struck it, it shattering everywhere.

"You only have 1 minute...come on, shit heads!"

The rest of the shards were near the spikes. They seemed to be well-protected.

But was there some sort of power that would suddenly appear if he felt love, like the last two times? He had to try it. It was the only option he had right now.

He knew that he cared deeply about his friends. When he began to think about how he would do anything for them, he at once felt a warming sensation in his body. Even if he was in the middle of a battle, he felt comfortable and calm. He felt the kindness and warmth he had for everyone he knew. It was until his arms began to feel a little cold, but he felt fine. He knew nothing wrong was happening, and then he opened his eyes.

Sonic, remembering all the love he had for his friends, saw that his arms grew into blades. They seemed to be carved out of ice, much like the depressed Bilan's sword.

"Shield me, Chip. I'm going to slash the last weak spots..."

Chip couldn't even see him. He could only see a blue-green streak speed by and slash the gem shards away.

"You...you..." it gasped. "You bastards! How dare you stop me! I'll...I'll kill you...I'll..."

It dissolved into the air, the ice from the shield melting and the flames dying away. The shield dropped to the earth, and then it seemed to slowly dissolve away.

The glass trees and plants began to rise slowly, growing and regaining their color back. In less than 5 minutes, the forest was dying and then was revived.

A small gem piece fell into the earth. It was a deep red ruby, shaped like a heart. Sonic picked it up, also seeing that a part of his soul was floating in the air. His blades went away, as he reached for it.

Once again, everything went black, as was the tradition of every time he got his soul. He could only see a silhouette, also shaped like a woman.

As soon as Sonic could see her clearly, she looked exactly like the woman he saw in the movie playing grass.

"Who...who are you? I don't remember you at all..."

"I am supposed to be...your love. There's a long story on why you can't remember me, but you really don't have the time to hear me..."

"Yes I do! Tell me!" Sonic yelled, frustrated.

"No, I can't right now, Sonic...maybe once you receive the next soul piece..."

Sonic could only look at her angrily, thinking that it would be a while before he would get the next piece, and he wanted answers now.

"Anyways...Sonic, I have seen your emotions overcome you twice. You must learn to control this. You no longer need to be in the Alpha lands, and the Omega lands are much more difficult, due to No Name and your evil emotions ruling with an iron fist there. The monsters will become more challenging, and you will deal with more trials...but the good news is that you only need four more pieces of your soul to go. It's not much longer now, Sonic..."

"So, there's one more after the Omega lands? I've heard that this was Hope, but where is it..."

"You will find out for yourself, Sonic...No Name and the Disorders now think you're a big threat, so you're going to see them more often.

"I cannot give you any more advice than that. I know you're tired of hearing this, but..."

She leaned over, and gave him a small kiss. "Good luck."

She disappeared, changing into white specks of light and was blown away.


	13. Chapter 13

"So you have collected the Ruby of Love. Excellent, Sonic," the echidna said, as he placed the ruby near the bright heart. "You only need four more gems left before you can unlock your power. And I see that you're done with the Alpha lands. The Omega lands are next," he added, as he looked outside the mosaic window. He could see that it was now dawn out.

Sonic said nothing, awaiting for the echidna to speak. He did note that Dawn fixed the ship, but he didn't want to change the subject.

"There's a teleporter that will take you to the land of Rage. But I must warn you: Rage is filled with many dangers. And the monsters there won't think twice about killing you. It contains many of No Name's henchmen."

Sonic looked at Jr., whom he noticed was starting to feel better. He was standing on both of his legs and didn't seem to feel nauseous. Once he was done examining him, he nodded, accepting that the lands were going to get much more difficult.

"I believe it would be best if you continue your journey right now. Time is ticking, you know." He pointed to his clock eye.

"So, Eve, are you going to leave? Your sister is done fixing the ship," Sonic said to her, while they were walking away from the heart room.

She shook her head. "No. It's been a while since I had an adventure like this, and I'm sure she'll be fine. She just needs to make sure she doesn't run into No Name again, and seeing as how you're a threat, he'll be looking for us instead..."

The memory of seeing No Name played in his mind. He still didn't understand why he couldn't of killed him right then and there while he was paralyzed, but he just thought he was lucky.

"Eve, do you even know what he is? And where he came from?"

Eve looked down. "I...don't even know that, Sonic. I've only seen him when he was a bird once. But I've heard that wasn't his real form. Just a form he uses to get around...I don't even know where he came from either. He just suddenly appeared in the Omega lands, claiming he was the god of this place. Anyways, we better get to Rage. I see that Jr. and Chip are starting to get impatient..." Sonic could see Jr. near the teleporter, stamping his foot, and Chip seeming as if he was bored. He quickly got on the green platform, Eve attempting to catch up with him. As soon as they reached it, many sparks of light started to gather around them, making them dematerialize to Rage.

A land torn asunder by magma, shards of mountains; the earth completely black by all of the soot. This is what Sonic and the others experienced once they got off the teleporter. The land was a desolate wasteland; there was no life form in sight. The world was also completely silent, the only sound echoing throughout were the volcanos as they erupted and expelled more magma. The sky was a deep dark red, with no clouds. There was a fractured moon in the distance. It was like if a child greedily ripped the moon apart, the middle of it having long spikes. It was as red as a ruby, much like the sky. The place was very eerie; still and broken.

"It's only been a couple of seconds and I'm already getting the creeps..." Jr. muddled, while he leaned closer to his father. Sonic held him while he looked onward. The land was making him feel uneasy. Eve glanced at his eyes and could see that they were moving erratically, as if he thought something was going to suddenly pop out and kill them. "Sonic, what's wrong?" His eyes stopped.

"Nothing. Come on, we're wasting time." He strolled off the teleporter, the others following closely.

The wind seemed to blow gently, then relentlessly as he heard some flapping above him. Chip was nearly carried away, until Eve sprightly grasped him, clutching him close to her.

Sonic remained standing, looking overhead, to see a bronze dragon with crimson eyes stare at him. He could also catch that a mysterious figure was riding it. The dragon belched out a fireball, the blue hedgehog shifted by jumping away. Jr. repeated his action, the fireball also missing him.

Sonic looked behind him to see that the dragon landed, the rider still on his ride, but stood there, as if he wanted to talk to him. "Hedgehog!"

He could see many others depart the dragon. About nine other ones. He knew that whatever this was, this was bad.

"Sonic...this definitely isn't good. You recognize these people, don't you?" Eve said, as she held on to his shoulder.

"They're the Disorders, right?"

"Correct. It looks like they want a full on fight. These guys are absolutely ruthless, so..." She was interrupted by a small girl who ran towards Sonic, looking away. She had long, brown hair, and baby blue eyes, while wearing what was like a potato sack over herself.

"Uh..." She was struggling to speak. Her cheeks became red, as if she was ashamed.

"What are you doing here, little girl? Why are you hanging out with those guys?" Sonic asked, as he pointed to the others.

"I'm...I'm...I'm a Disorder too...Please don't hate me...anyways, Antisocial wants to meet you. It's...important." She dashed over back to the other Disorders, hiding behind another one.

Sonic was shocked that a little girl such as her was considered a Disorder, but he walked towards the dragon rider, while the other ones were glaring at him.

"Hello there, hedgehog. I see that you have progressed quite well on your journey." He emitted a sinister grin, showing all of his teeth.

"What do you want? I can tell that you want something from me..."

"Actually, hedgehog, it's more like a...favor. As you can see, you're surrounded. Sure, you may have three other people with you, but we really outnumber you. However, we can settle this civilly if you..."

"With what?" Sonic spat.

"...that orb on that one thing's chest. Trust me, you don't need it, he doesn't need it, you can just give it to us without any trouble. What do you say?" He grinned again.

"You mean Chip?"

"But...I do need it, Sonic! I don't know what it does exactly, but..." he wailed, as he looked at it.

Sonic switched his head back, facing the man. Something told him that this orb was valuable, and not something he should give away. "Well?"

"You're going to have to fight me for it. I can't give away it away. I'm sure you want it for some kind of evil reason, do you? I can't exactly trust you..."

"Very well. If you wish to die, then so be it, hedgehog. I will show you how powerful every one of us can be."

The dragon rider soared off, once again firing another fireball. Sonic eluded it, the other ones in the distance knowing that they wanted a battle.

Sonic thought of love and immediately unveiled two ice blades on his arms. As one man, who was rapidly counting each step he was taking, charged, Sonic dissipated and slashed him, his arm bleeding. The man winced, but did not falter, as he froze Sonic in mid-motion.

Sonic could not speak. He found his mouth completely shut, and his legs and arms were completely immobilized. He attempted to move, but he couldn't even budge.

"One two. Don't underestimate me. I have the ability to freeze people..." He gazed at his wound.

"Gah! I'm bleeding! _Bleeding_! Someone help! Please!" He uttered a cry, as he nervously walked about. "Now I'm not counting! Damn it!"

Jr. struck him by rolling into a ball, making him fall onto the ground. He halted as he suddenly saw a split image of his father.

"Dad? I thought you were..."

"It's really me, Jr.! That 'Sonic' is nothing but an imposter!" he exclaimed, as he pointed to him.

He couldn't twitch. He couldn't tell him that he was the real one because he was the first one that appeared. Jr. looked at him, then the other Sonic, confused.

"Why are you confused? Don't you trust your own dad?" He got closer to him, until Eve rushed to him, and attempted to slash him with her sword. He leaped backwards, the sword missing its target. "Eve! What are you doing? I'm the real Sonic!"

"No you're not!" She hacked him in half, him turning into liquid and melting into the earth. She thought the liquid would dissolve, but instead it split, transforming itself to Sonic and another Eve.

Sonic was no longer frozen in time. He tackled the other Sonic, punching him in the mouth. The other one rolled over him and was about to do the same, until his mouth was once again assaulted by a fist. It came from Jr., about to bowl over him until he was suddenly protected by a blue shield, shocking him and forcing him to fall and skid a few feet.

Eve was too busy fighting with her other self. They blocked each other's attacks, both of them stopping as their swords were stuck together. She used all her strength to get her sword out of the other's range, but the other Eve was also exerting all her power to protect herself. They were at a standstill.

Sonic jumped back to his feet, seeing a woman whose face was hidden by her hair, with scars on her body and wearing a torn dress, holding onto a short blade. She revealed her appearance, her eyes being extremely wide and her smiling wickedly, as she dashed, attempting to gut him. Sonic upsurged, bouncing on her head, making her plummet. As soon as his feet reached the ground, he saw a blonde, blue-eyed woman wearing a blue dress, with two crimson tape worms on each arm. She leaned back, then stretched her arms, homing in on Sonic. He sprinted to the left, the arms still following him, the other woman still trying to go after him with the switchblade. He then made a u-turn and began to dash around them in circles. The tentacles got tangled, leaving the other woman to lament.

"No! Not my precious arms! I can't do nothing..." She didn't finish as Sonic continued to spin circles around them, creating a torrent of wind. They shielded themselves from the dirt and rocks that were being lifted by the wind, everyone holding onto the earth. Even the dragon and Antisocial were having trouble keeping still.

The blue whirlwind was becoming more rapid, now nearly blowing away the little girl as she held onto the dragon. As they gazed at the sky, they could see the chipmunk creature, in the eye of the storm. His orb shone, then a burst of green light erupted from it, blinding them.

It was until the tornado slowed down and eventually came to a stop when they could finally see.

Antisocial growled, analyzing the entire scene. There were a couple of Disorders hurt, and he could not see his opponents. They were gone.

"Sun and sea damn it! They tricked us! That tornado, that light...it was nothing but a trick to get them to run away!" He fumed, then began to scream towards the distance, "Cowards! All of you are nothing but cowards!"

"Well, this may seem like an obvious idea, but they of course went straight. That's where the beast is at!" the muscled, brown haired man clamored to him.

"Fine," he spat. "We'll go after them. Ride on Sophie, we'll teach them that it's wrong to run away..."

The skies began to get black, with a golden rim. The moon glowed brightly then ever, possibly warning him. The other three were behind him, but he out ran them, determined to get to the beast first.

Noises. He heard what seemed to be screeching and yelling. This was starting to creep him out. He began to trek faster, somewhat scared.

_Sonic..._

He heard a voice call his name from what seemed to be far away. It was suddenly that he heard the land crumble apart under his feet. The world was now falling apart.

The roar of the broken landscape scared him out of his wits. He was even more frightened for his friends, but he continued to run.

_YOU WON'T MAKE IT! PIECE OF SHIT! DON'T YOU SEE?_

He heard what seemed to be a masculine voice taunt him. He glanced at a rope that was levitating above the ground, leaping towards it. He held onto it tightly, as the last of the earth fell, into the black void. He scrambled up it, panting, seeing that it led to another piece of the land. Once he climbed high enough, he jumped off of the rope, landing onto the ground. He breathed a sigh of relief, once he saw the other three vaulting from the rope.

"Man, where have you guys been? The ground gave up and I thought you guys were goners!"

"The ground gave up? What do you mean by that, Sonic?" Eve replied, once her boots touched the soil.

"You know. It came apart. Started to fall."

"Dad, that never happened," Jr. solemnly retorted, looking at him with a blank expression.

Silence. The only thing he could hear were chirpings.

"Are you...all right, Sonic?"

"Yeah. Fine." He turned around, walking out into the distance.

Eve could only shrug, along with Jr. and Chip, and they followed him.

_Sonic..._

He heard it again. Ignored it.


	14. Chapter 14

The night air was chilling, the land fell silent. Sonic could see a cavern in the distance, the place that held the next beast.

He could hear flapping of wings in the distance. Sonic and the others turned around, seeing a small bronze dragon coming forward.

"Damn it, they decided to follow us!" Sonic shouted as soon as he saw the dragon gliding closer. He knew he could easily run towards the beast, but he knew that Eve and Chip would have an extremely difficult time catching up with him. He knew he had no choice but to face the Disorders again.

The dragon let loose a roar and a fireball, aimed directly at Sonic. He leaped to the side, it missing its target. The bronze tyrant zoomed above him, creating a gust of wind that nearly blew him aside.

The dragon then u-turned, opening its mouth and racing towards him, Antisocial brandishing his sword. He swiped at Sonic, while the dragon's jaws clamped shut near him. Antisocial protruded his sword forward, towards Eve.

Eve halted the attack, but was quickly losing her balance. The dragon was simply too powerful. Her head was nearly sliced until Sonic tackled her and moved her quickly out of the way.

The dragon rocketed in the sky, preparing for another assault. It shot blue flames from its mouth, while about to charge again.

The flames zigzagged, homing in. They were quick, reaching the earth in seconds. Sonic sidestepped in a flash, the flame disappearing as it hit the ground. Jr. followed Sonic's movements, the same event repeating. Eve and Chip blocked it, with her sword and his magical shield. The dragon fluttered its wings apace, then lowered its head and attacked the group, with Antisocial's sword once again out. As they dodged out of the way, Sonic jumped, then rolled up and hit the dragon's forehead, causing it to yell. Sonic was now on its body, with Antisocial and the other Disorders.

Antisocial jabbed his sword near his shoulder; him stepping out of the way and sliding under his feet, tripping him. He nearly fell off the dragon, the leader holding onto its neck. The woman with the scars on her arms and legs made the first assault, once again charging with her switchblade, jabbing it in several different directions. Sonic once more moved himself out of the knife's way, and roundhouse kicked the blade out of her hands. As soon as they found out she no longer had a weapon, the other ones dashed towards him, all unleashing their attacks on him.

"Sonic!"

A blue shield blocked all the incoming attacks as he saw Chip flying his way towards the dragon's body. As soon as the shield vanished, Sonic quickly curled up and bowled his way under them, making them also nearly descend off the dragon. Some of them were hanging onto its wings, praying to the sun and sea that they won't fall.

A large golden jewel was on the tip of the dragon's tail. It was probably the dragon's weak spot. Sonic ran towards it while the Disorders recovered. The tail was very thin and wavy, Sonic taking care not to fall. He bounded towards it, coiling up and shattering it.

The dragon roared and hissed, its tail becoming cracked. Sonic hurried back to the body as it crumbled away, the tail falling to the earth and the dragon headed towards it.

Chip concentrated on his targets, relinquishing a spray of sharp green crystals from his gem. They surged towards the Disorders, until the young girl pushed the other ones out of her way and created a shield of her own. It was useless. The shards went through the shields like glass through liquid, cutting up the girl's body. She moved her arms in front of her body, in an attempt to protect herself.

"Chip! Stop!" Sonic hollered, as the dragon crashed, its bronze scales becoming dirty and scratched as it rammed itself headfirst into the soil. It flapped its wings rapidly, in hopes of being airborne again, but nothing.

"What a useless creature! Without that jewel, it can't fly! Since that damned hedgehog destroyed it, it can only fight on the ground. Why have wings when they can't do a damned thing?" Antisocial cried, as he continued to whip it. The dragon could only let out a howl, as it tried to hover.

The girl's shield was broken, as the other Disorders rushed towards the creature and Sonic. Antisocial barked his commands, all of them using their powers.

Sonic was once again frozen in time. The girl with the red tapeworms as arms flung herself towards him, while the other ones were about to attack him at once.

She cried as Eve barged in, slicing them apart. Her arms continued to flail around, looking for something to feast on. She stabbed them, blood soaking their bodies as their mouths puckered. The girl gazed at herself, realizing she was fading away. She could only screech uproariously, as she dissolved away, defeated.

Sonic was freed. He straightaway zoomed off, along with Jr. and the rest, into the red cavern in the distance.

"They're getting away again!" The scarred woman sounded, pointing to them.

"You know what, Borderline? Let them go and fight that monster! They were winning the fight anyways."

The woman stared at him, then shook her head. He was right. The fight was getting to be pointless. Their only form of transportation was injured, one of their allies was dead, and if they continued any longer, the rest of them would be as well. It was pathetic. They didn't manage to land a scratch on any of them.

"We're going to have to face them again. We can't just keep giving up. We need that jewel."

"I know, Narcissism. We will devise a plan soon. We can't let them keep on winning. For now, we need to go to the next land and advise our lord, No Name...once Sophie can fly again."

The little girl eyed them in the distance. They hated her, she knew. But yet, the blue hedgehog...he seemed to sympathize with her. She never had that happen before.

Maybe she could help him. She didn't much like being in the Disorders, as it was dangerous and frightening. And all she ever wanted was a father. Antisocial never really was one, and she saw how the hedgehog treated his child.

She wiped away her tears, and followed the rest of the gang to Misery.


	15. Chapter 15

The cave was mostly a fiery orange, with redness streaking on the ground with lava. Sonic was glad to be rid of the Disorders, but he knew he would have to face them again. He couldn't just keep running away from them. There was just way too many. But he knew that that was behind him. Next up was the beast in the cavern. He took a step, which immediately the ground gave way and steam blew in his face, his quills ruffling and his face turning slightly red from the heat. He leaped aimlessly away from the steam and the earth once again cracked. Sonic then knew what to do. He zoomed across the barren landscape, the earth breaking apart and steam escaping from the crevices. Jr. tried to follow him, until he came to a realization.

The earth seemed to grow ledges, and some of them were extremely high and seemed to skyrocket into the roof of the cavern, too high for Jr. to reach. As soon as he took another step, the ground began to shake rapidly, as if an earthquake was occurring. He looked down below, and saw that there were some floating platforms, but the rest of the floor was eaten by the magma. He also saw a yellow snake eye, that seemed to glower below him.

Sonic and the gang were on top of a dragon made of rocks and mountains.

"Come on, guys! I see my soul piece over there! Maybe we don't have to face a monster..." More steam poured into his face. Sonic held onto the ground as it suddenly launched into the air, him also seeing the black and yellow eyes and recognizing that the two holes on the edges were not geysers. He was on top of the dragon's head.

The dragon let loose a roar, and used its stony hands in order to get Sonic off of him, while flailing its tail. The blue hedgehog leaped from one side to another, and then curled up into a ball, rolling off of his head and onto one small mountain on his back.

Eve, Chip, and Jr. began to run on its tail, seeing that it was now still. The dragon proceeded to pound its neck with its boulder hands, trying to crush the hedgehog. Sonic, analyzing that it wasn't a good idea to stay on its back any longer, got on the long elliptical platform. The other ones continued to stay on its back. The dragon however, paid no mind to them.

Seeing that Sonic was now on the platform, it began to breathe out a violet-like flame all around the arena. The dragon continued to eye him cautiously, as he dashed back and forth throughout the platform, avoiding them.

As Eve tried to climb further on the small mountain, she saw a shard of glass that reflected colorfully. His weak spot. She grabbed her sword and stabbed the spot, stopping the dragon's onslaught. It screamed and arched its head, making the others stumble and nearly fall to their deaths, until they held onto the edge of the cliffs.

Sonic could also see two other weak spots on its stomach and on its head. _That's it? Only three__weak spots? This is going to be easier than I thought!_He exclaimed in his thoughts. He homed in on its stomach, preparing for his assault.

The dragon's hands rose in the air, and then they were slammed across the platform violently, in hopes of crushing the hedgehog. Sonic's eyes steadily watched where the palms were going, and he also saw that the platform was weak; it was crumbling each time the dragon hit it. As its two hands were moving closer to him, Sonic knew it was time: he had no choice but to break its weak spot and hopefully land on the floating piece of land below him. He transformed into a ball again, then speared the glass in a flash.

The dragon tried to pay no mind to its wound. It turned its back and thwacked the hedgehog with its massive tail, nearly causing a concussion. The tail was about to swing into the wall, until Sonic miraculously vaporized.

He was back on the platform. Sonic held his head in pain, stumbling. But he knew he couldn't pay attention to his wounds. The last weak spot was on its head, and he had to get to it. Although his friends were close to it, he could get there faster.

The dragon once more puffed several small purple flames. They hovered in mid-air for a few seconds, and then spiraled towards the hedgehog. The flames were unpredictable, as some of them went in one direction completely away from Sonic, or some of them homed in on him. As he zipped away from the pursuing flames, there were some that exploded near him. As he flew away from the impact, he was close to be bombarded by another set of explosions.

"I can't protect Sonic! That disappearing spell used up most of my energy!" Chip yelled to the others, as he watched the scene.

"I'll save him, then," Jr. replied, as he gyrated into a ball and rolled over to the weak spot, breaking it.

The flames disappeared. Sonic skidded on the ground, his mouth bleeding slightly. He witnessed the dragon crying from its pain. The stones on its body were shattered, its eyes were feverish. Shards of the boulders and mountains bolted from all sides of the arena, nearly hitting Sonic. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw a silver glow in the center.

"Alright, we..." Sonic was interrupted by something that made him zoom near the wall. He felt as if his bones were cracked and splintered. His back fell to the floor, now seeing what hit him.

It was a diamondized dragon, who became much smaller and faster, now that the mountains were destroyed. Its shoulders were also attached with two blades. It growled and hissed, then it skit to Sonic, with one of its blades raised.

Eve, Chip, and Jr. were on the platform below the arena, with no way to rise to it. Jr. revealed his butterfly wings and fluttered to the land above, quickly exposing his ice blades and slashing the dragon on the back, halting his attack.

It fizzled, one of its weak spots cracked. Its eye turned to the right, seeing the child, and it swung its tail. Jr. leaped over it, then attempted to slash its weak spot on its chest, the dragon's blade shielding it. Both Jr. and the dragon stood motionless, trying to free their blades from the other's.

Sonic grunted, trying to get up. He ached, but using all of his strength remaining, he released his blades and hit the dragon's weak spot on its back.

This freed its wings, which were made of sheets of metal. It rocketed to the ceiling of the cavern, vanishing from their sight. Both of them stood side by side, looking up at the dragon.

The dragon roared, then flapping its wings a few times rapidly, it dived towards both of them, with both blades pointing towards their necks. Sonic and Jr. sped away from it, it once again taking off to the air.

"You stay here, Eve," Chip said, as he flitted his wings.

"So where does that leave me? Here? Why can't I fly? This is so unfair!" Eve whined, as she sighed and sat on the ground.

The dragon sky bombed towards Sonic, while it screeched a deafening noise. Sonic knew that he had to move, but the sound immobilized him. It nearly made his ears bleed, and the only thing he could do was hold them, shutting his eyes. Jr. did the same, also stopping in his tracks.

Shards of green light all at once hit his chest, making it once again scream. As the pink mosaic glass disappeared, the dragon gave off a ray of white light, transforming into a orange yellow jewel. The diamond dragon was defeated.

Sonic scuttled his feet to catch the jewel. As his fingers explored its shape, he felt that it was extremely rough and it ended in three sharp spikes. It was the Garnet of Rage.

PAGEBREAK

After Sonic pulled Eve from the platform and they all flew to the cliff above them, Sonic was face to face with his fourth soul piece. Sonic knew the drill: as soon as he reached for it, he would see a beautiful woman freed from the spell. He stretched his hand for the jade, and once again, everything vanished in white light.

"I'm very surprised you released me, Sonic."

Sonic looked above to see that it was a man, who wasn't actually naked but actually wearing the fur of a wolf, with very thin wings. The wings seemed as if they were knives, ready to stab him.

"Actually, that battle was easy! Yeah, the diamond thing took me by surprise, but..."

"Sonic...although you defeated that dragon easily, I'm somewhat disappointed that you ran away from the Disorders. Sure, there were many of them, but it might mean you'll run into further trouble later on. DO YOU WANT THAT!" he screamed into his ear, making Sonic flinch.

"No...but there were too many of them. And I felt like fighting the beast first..." Sonic whispered.

"Hmph. Sonic, although I'm supposed to give you some advice, I really don't have any. Besides, to be honest, it really seems like you know what you're doing. You only have three more monsters to defeat, and you're well on your way.

But heed my warning, Sonic: as you gain another friend, you will lose more. I said enough already. It's time for you to go."

The man faded into the light. As it slowly dimmed back to his surroundings, Sonic pondered his saying. _As you gain another friend, you will lose more._He wasn't sure what it meant.

"Well,,,are you ready guys? It seems like it's just a smooth path to the next land..." Sonic pulled out his map. Next up was the land of Misery. He rolled it up after examining it, and the others followed him, into the road beyond.


	16. Chapter 16

The ruby moon never faded away. It continued to shine brightly through the night sky, lighting the path for Sonic and the others. Sonic realized that the land was losing its shade of red and was instead turning blue, and vegetation began to become prominent. The peculiar thing about the plant life was that the flowers' colors were glowing, as if they were street lamps for a city.

A butterfly was fluttering towards him. Like the plants, it was glowing a soft deep blue hue, with black spots. It landed on his nose, as if it was examining his face. Sonic stopped, looking at the environment ahead of him.

There seemed to be a blue green sea off in the distance, and a white small white building near a cliff. The blue grass was now beginning to grow thicker in some areas, hiding his face.

The butterfly wavered its wings for a moment, and then hovered away from him. It was lowering itself to the ground, on a small purple mushroom.

"Dad, I know this land may seem pretty to you, but we got to get goin-..."

He wasn't listening. He watched intently as the butterfly, now rising in the air, got stuck in midair.

_What's wrong, Sonic?_

_As you gain another friend, you will lose more._

_Dad, I know this land..._

So many voices in his head were sounding off. His heart was beating faster. He began to sweat.

_Nothing in this world is true! Everything is a lie!_

_Faker? I think you're the fake one around here. Comparing yourself to me? Ha! You're not good enough to be my fake!_

_You're going nowhere fast!_

_Sonic..._

A spider, with twelve legs, a wavy white line on its abdomen, and one eye, began to inch its way towards the butterfly. It struggled, flailing its wings and thrashing them about, but it was firmly inside the web.

He suddenly had flashes of Tails and Jr. One of them he treated as if he was his son, another was actually his son. He saw them happy, but for some reason this was making his heart pound even faster.

The spider was beginning to spray the butterfly.

A scream played in his mind over and over like it was a tape recorder, repeating in his head.

He smacked the spider swiftly, destroying the web and freeing the butterfly. He felt a sharp sting on his finger, as the spider bit him. He flinched, threshing his hand to get it off. As he looked at his hand, he could see that it was starting to become gray. He immediately paid this no mind and instead glanced at the illuminating butterfly, which couldn't still move its wings. It could only shuffle.

"Sonic! Are you alright?"

He turned around. Eve ran up to him, and then began to hold his hand, analyzing it. "It seems like you were bitten by the illusioner."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Well, sort of. It's not poisonous, but it can make you hallucinate. It'll go away, but trust me, it's not a pleasant experience."

He looked at his hand. It was now black.

"It's...it's turning black..."

"I see that it's already in your system...Sonic, I know you might not like this, but stay by us, okay? We don't want you freaking out or anything..."

Suddenly, he grew annoyed. "I'll be fine, Eve! I'll hallucinate, sure. But it's not like you're going to have to baby me or anything!"

"I...I knew you wouldn't like this. But trust me, I got bitten by one of those once, and my mind never fully recovered from that."

He looked up. His eyes suddenly diminished, as he saw a jet haired muscular man grinning wildly at him.

"Who are you? Are you one of the Disorders?" he yelled.

"Why yes, Sonic. I would imagine you remember me, Antisocial." His eyes peered at his. "We're going to kill you and end this pathetic journey of yours! We want No Name to rule the lands! We want chaos and disorder!"

"And why would you want that?" he whispered, giving him an evil glare.

"Simple. I want to take over your body...I want to rule your life, your friends, and make it all come falling apart! I'm a disorder, Sonic! That's what I do!" he sneered and laughed.

"Not while I can help it!" Sonic retaliated by transforming into a ball and hitting him square in the chest, making him fall backwards.

"Sonic! Oh for sun and sea's sake, he's already hallucinating!" Eve spat, as she got up. Sonic was in fighting position, ready to launch another attack.

Antisocial continued to laugh, as he slowly rose. "Is that all you got? I suggest you try harder, you miserable blue shit!"

Sonic growled, charging over to him. He tackled him to the ground, and as soon as he was on top of him, he began to punch him over and over, until blood was pouring out of his mouth.

He was still laughing through the pain. Still laughing. Sonic was interrupted as he was now frozen in time.

"I will not let you hurt our master! One two three..."

"It's alright, Obsessive Compulsive. Let him continue to fight me and hurt me...it's like a test of strength...I'm trying to see how strong he is."

As soon as Sonic was able to move again, he instantaneously got out his ice blades, pressing it near the neck of Antisocial. He continued to grin like the Cheshire cat.

"Heheheheh...you're still smiling? You're still laughing? Well, you shouldn't be, you poor bastard...Just one slice from my blade and you're dead...You can't take over my life! You will never make it crumble away! As long as I'm Sonic, I'm..."

"_Daddy! Please stop!"_ he heard a shrill voice scream.

Eve was bleeding. And beaten up. Sonic was on top of her, ready to slit her neck. He saw Jr., with tears in his eyes. Chip was becoming dark purple, with red eyes. Sonic knew then that he just did something horribly wrong.

"Sonic, what the...even if you were hallucinating, you wouldn't even dare to attack me! What the hell is wrong with you?"

Sonic's frozen blade melted, becoming water. He drooped his head down, as if in shame.

"I'm...I'm sorry Eve..."

"Sorry? Sorry? That's all you have to say after beating me up and pressing a blade near my neck? I...I don't know anymore."

She pushed Sonic off of her harshly, and began to strut away from him.

"Where...wher-...where are you going?" Sonic shouted.

"Home! I don't know Sonic, you've been an ass lately, and let's say I'm leaving you behind!"

Sonic couldn't believe it. Although he knew what he did was wrong, he felt like he had no control of it. He began to snarl, then snapped. "Fine! You just leave! If you think I've been an asshole, then..."

She was gone. Sonic caught no sight of her.

Jr. was still crying, hiding his face. Chip's wings were no longer fairy-like, but demonic.

"Come on...I wasted enough time...let's just go..." Sonic muttered, Jr. still wailing and Chip staring endlessly into space. Many creatures could still hear Jr.'s cries as they continued to walk forward.

The butterfly stopped moving, now dead.


	17. Chapter 17

Jr. wiped away his tears as he followed his father down the narrow path. He didn't know why his father was acting so strange, and he the shock that Eve left the group did not wear off.

The road was now becoming red, and the entire land was a deep dark blue. The grass was also becoming much taller than they were, blocking the sides of the road.

Chip's consciousness was now tucked away. He had no mind of his own. He was becoming a beast, who hungered for the chosen one's soul. He had to wait, however. He wasn't completely ready.

Sonic sniffed. There was something not right with this smell he was experiencing. It was all too familiar. Blood. He thought he was having an olfactory hallucination. He was still seeing things. He thought the stars were coming alive, laughing at him. The laughter was very sinister, and sounded as if it was coming from far away.

_I'll be fine. Just a hallucination. Nothing wrong with me. Nothing wrong with me..._

The laughter was getting louder and seemed as if many others were joining in. He began to turn around, looking. He felt as if people were after him. Was he becoming paranoid? No, no one was after him. He had to keep going.

Footsteps were becoming louder and louder. Unfamiliar footsteps. Footsteps that seemed to belong to a group of people. Sonic's pace was starting to become faster. He saw that the grass was also shuffling, as if someone was moving around in it.

"Jr.! Run!"

Sonic was now running. Jr. was confused, but he began to run as well. Sonic thought with his speed, he would be in the middle of Misery by now, but the road seemed to last forever. He wasn't anywhere close to the pond.

"Dad! Help! Aaaaahhh!"

He stopped, then looked behind him. He saw a scarred woman holding onto Jr., and she also was gripping a knife close to his neck. He also saw the other Disorders and Antisocial, laughing.

"Sonic, if you even attempt to attack us, your son here will die. And you love your son, don't you?"

Before the woman could react, she fell to the ground, her switchblade gone. Her eyes opened wide when she saw Sonic with it, holding it in the air. He was immobilized. Borderline knew that if it wasn't for her partner Obsessive Compulsive, she would've been dead.

"Jr.! Run, run, _run_! I want you to run! Forget about me!" he screamed as Antisocial got closer to his son.

"Jr. isn't going to run. I'm afraid he loves his father too much to do that, don't you?" Jr. remained firm, looking at Sonic. "If you run Jr., your dad will die."

He knew that he couldn't abandon his father. If he died, the land was going to be forever in darkness. He continued to stand, with tears in his eyes.

"What do you want from me, Antisocial?" Sonic growled ferociously.

"Simple. I just want the orb that your creature is wearing...oh, my! What happened to him? He...changed! Well, never mind that. Just give me the orb and all of you will go unscathed."

Sonic knew that giving him the orb would be a bad choice, whatever it did. He looked back at Jr. He however couldn't bear to lose him. "What's it going to be, hedgehog? You only have two choices: give it to us, or all of you will die."

"Boss! One...two...I can't make him suspended any longer! Hurry up!"

Antisocial glanced at him, then looked back at Sonic. "Well, I'll make your decision for you: I'll just take the orb. However, there's a catch to this..."

The rest of the Disorders snickered as he walked towards Chip. Chip, now being a mindless monster, did not run or make any motion. He remained hovering, allowing Antisocial to simply yank the crystal from his chest. It glittered and the colors seemed to swirl around in his hand, the emerald color now dulling and becoming onyx black.

"Perfect! Now all we need to do to allow this world to become ours is to collect the blood of an innocent soul. And I know exactly where we can get some..."

Sonic still could not move his muscles. He prayed that they didn't meant Jr. _Not Jr., not Jr..._

"Come here, child. If you run away from us, we'll kill your father. You have no choice but to let us do this, so come on."

"Jr.! Don't let them touch you! Run! Run! Get away from them!"

Jr. could only peer at him, then close his eyes and shake his head slowly. "No dad...I got to let them do this. If you die, then this world will be gone..."

"I would rather die than live in this world forever under the control of these guys! Get away from them, Jr.!"

"No dad! If you're still alive, then we'll still have a chance to go after these guys! I'm-...I'm sorry dad...we have no choice..."

"Good boy. Except you're wrong, little one. Either way, Sonic will forever live in a world of darkness! But I'm glad you're making the right choice!"

Jr. began to slowly stroll towards them. Antisocial took away the knife that Sonic was holding onto and held it out, grinning at the prospect of winning.

"Alright, I'll let you say a short goodbye to your daddy. This is the last time you'll speak to him, so do it," he said, as he clutched the blade close to Jr.'s chest.

"Dad..." He was tearing up. His voice was barely audible as he said, "I hope I can see you again somehow. Goodbye...I-...I...I love you."

Sonic was completely silent as Antisocial then thrust the knife to Jr.'s heart, him gasping and his eyes shaking.

He swiftly pulled the knife out of him, now stained with blood. Jr. fell on his knees, and then onto the floor.

"_You fucking bastard! You...Jr.!"_

Antisocial paid no attention to his insults and screamings. He inserted the blade into the orb, absorbing all the blood slowly. As soon as the blade was devoid of any blood, the blackness began to turn into a deep crimson color, the color of blood.

"Yes! Yes! Yes! All we have to do now is bring this back to No Name! Then we can create the ultimate weapon! This world...is ours!"

The laughter echoed in his head as Antisocial and the others faded into obscurity. They were gone.

Sonic was able to move once again. He immediately ran to Jr.'s body, picking him up and cradling him in his arms.

"Jr! Jr.! They're gone! Come on, you can't be dead! Everything is going to be alright! I'll get some help and they'll take care of you! It's going to be alright!"

No response.

"Come on, buddy! Please...speak to me! Jr.! Jr..."

A tear fell from his eye and landed on Jr.'s cheek. Sonic's eyes were wavering as he glanced at his body. He nuzzled him, and then broke down.

There was nothing he could do. He was dead.

The sky became fractured, breaking apart. It began to rain.

Sonic remained sitting, with Jr. in his hands.

"I-...I love you too, son..."


	18. Chapter 18

"Antisocial?"

"Yes?"

"Why did you kill Sonic's son?"

He paused. He knew he shouldn't have brought the little girl to the incident that just occurred a while ago, but if she was a Disorder, she had to get used to those sort of things. "Because we needed his blood to make No Name able to take over Sonic's body with dark gaia. Do you understand?"

"But...why do you want the world in darkness?"

"Because that's just want No Name wants. And what No Name wants, he gets."

"Yes, but why do you feel like you have to follow No Name?"

He stopped walking in the vast hallway. He looked at her curiously. "Because I'm a Disorder."

"Why are you a Disorder? Why am I?"

"I..." He was stumped. "I don't know...all I know is that I was created from No Name, and I was ordered to serve under him. If I don't, I will die."

"But is it worth it, Antisocial?"

He was shocked by her response. "Of course it's worth it! I want to continue to live! I want to take over Sonic's life!"

"Why?"

"Because that bastard doesn't deserve it."

She looked down at the carpet. "I think he doesn't deserve it...I..."

"Listen to me, Avoidant. Sonic is wicked, cruel, useless...he needs me to fix his life. He needs the Dark Gaia..."

"No he's not!" she burst. "I don't know why we're doing this to him! I like him!"

"You can't be serious! Avoidant, is that true? If we allow Sonic to regain consciousness, we will die!"

"His son died for him, why can't we die for him too?"

Silence broke out. Antisocial looked around, as if checking to see if anyone was around, then said, "Don't you ever say that again, young lady! That's just what No Name wants! He doesn't want Sonic! Sonic is our enemy! Get that in your head!"

She raised her head to look at his eyes. "But my heart says differently," she whispered.

"Well, your heart is wrong! You should listen to your head!"

"There are times where your heart is more right than your head."

He turned around, then began to strut deeper into the hallway, his cape flying behind him. "Go to your room, Avoidant. We will speak of this matter no more."

"That's what you always tell me to!" she yelled, her voice echoing throughout the halls. As he became smaller in sight, ignoring her, she dashed back to her room, with tears flying from her eyes.

He looked at the ball of dark gaia, then looked at his path further down the hallway. He always obeyed No Name. He didn't want to know what happened when he disobeyed him.

_There are times where your heart is more right than your head._

He shook his head, then plunged himself further down the hall.


	19. Chapter 19

The rain stopped, but the wind continued to blow fiercely in his face, drying his tears. He noticed the sky seemed to be broken, as it was showing what seemed to be the other side of the world.

It has been hours since his son's death. He found a feeling that he didn't understand until now.

Emptiness.

His soul was sucked out of him in this world as well.

Hopelessness.

He was beginning to question his adventure. The Disorders got what they want, and it all seemed like it was going downhill.

Loneliness.

He lost all of his friends. Eve disappeared, his son was murdered, and Chip was now mindless. He should have taken Rage's advice. But he was wrong: he did not gain a friend.

Desperate.

He wanted to know why the world seemed to forsake him. He knew this really wasn't what he was like. It was the dark gaia making him seem cruel. He wanted to get out of this world, whatever it took.

He began to hear snarling. He looked behind him and saw that Chip has turned completely black, with fangs protruding from his mouth and red eyes that gleamed at him. He slowly hovered down to the ground, landing on his feet. He was twitching like a mad man, and Sonic could see foam erupting from his mouth. It was then that he began to transform.

He underwent a growth spurt, becoming much taller and fatter. Muscles began to develop, the beast roaring as they emerged. Nails were popping out of his hands and feet, turning into claws. His tail then became long and hairy, completing his metamorphosis. He howled to the ruby moon, then stared at his prey.

Sonic did not care. He thought he would never experience this feeling again since he first saw No Name, but he didn't want to be a part of this world any longer. He rose, faced the beast, and spread his arms.

"Here I am, Chip. I...don't want to be here any longer. Maybe if I die, I'll go right back to my own world, or...a world better than this one."

He knew he was told there wasn't a world after this one. But he just hoped they were wrong. He closed his eyes, and sighed. He knew the beast was coming for him. He didn't want to see his fate.

**Outer Realms**

Tails was sitting near Sonic's bed, awaiting a response from Sonic. Sonic was all he could think about. He knew he was a wreck. He could barely sleep, and he barely ate. Even when he slept, he dreamed about Sonic, wanting him to come back. He tried to avoid those dreams, as when he woke up, the realization that Sonic was in a coma crushed him. He rubbed his eyes, which were dull and puffy.

"Tails."

He looked to the door, where he saw the doctor. He was silent as the doctor cleared his throat.

"I...need to talk to you."

"Is it about Sonic? Will he be okay?"

He sadly shook his head. "I'm afraid not. Tails, it has been months since he's been in this vegetative state. Sonic is showing very little sign that he's getting better..."

"No! He has been getting better! I know it! I..."

"Tails, listen. I am very unsure if we're going to continue to let Sonic be in this state. We performed a blood transfusion, and it seems as if the dark gaia is somehow returning. We did many tests, and Sonic has ranked a 3 on the Glasgow Coma Scale, which is very severe. He does not respond to outside stimuli, and..."

"So...you're...going to let him die?"

The doctor slowly nodded his head. "I'm sorry Tails. It may be a good idea to withdraw care..."

"No..._No!_You can't do that! I won't allow it!"

"It is purely your decision, but you need to think about it. It has been months since Sonic has last moved. There is nothing we can do about his condition. Would you like him to be this way? For years, even decades? I know this is Sonic we're talking about, but there's really nothing we can do..."

"There has got to be something that will help him! We've got to find a way to get the dark gaia out! _Please!_" Tails' yelling was audible in the hallways, making a few people look inside the room.

The doctor shut his eyes briefly as he spoke. "Performing another blood transfusion will probably be pointless. We've got to find another way to get the dark gaia out. We may need to contact Professor Pickle again. This is our last chance at making Sonic conscious again. If we fail, then..."

"I'll do it! I will do anything for Sonic to be conscious again! _Anything_!"

"I will let Pickle know of the situation immediately."

**Sonic's World**

Sonic suddenly heard the beast give out a loud bellow, then a yelp. Sonic opened his eyes, examining what was going on. Chip was suddenly stopped by a black figure that seemed to have blue fire blazing from its head and tail. He couldn't determine much from the creature, but it had a dog-like silhouette and red eyes that looked back at him as the monster got ready to attack. Chip tried to slash the creature, but it swiftly leaped out of harm's way and breathed a stream of blue flames from its mouth, the beast becoming badly burned and his fur singed. Chip emitted a sound that seemed to belong to a wild cat, and was slowly becoming smaller, his muscles decreasing in size, and his eyes and teeth reverting to normal.

Chip's small body fell on the ground, his body scorched. Chip wasn't breathing, and he didn't even twitch a muscle after his transformation. Sonic assumed he was dead.

The creature walked towards Sonic slowly, it's appearance slowly unveiling in the light. He was indeed a dog, with black fur and blue flames burning on his head and tail. He looked very similar to a Doberman.

"Who are you? Why did you save my life?" Sonic asked once he was closer to him, sitting down.

"I'm Saphfire, your embodiment of rage. I saw you when you were in Rage, and I decided to follow you, interested. I saved your life because I saw how depressed you were, and I won't allow you to give up and die like that," he spoke.

Sonic turned around, his head still craning to look at him. "You don't get it. The Disorders got what they want. They're going to make a weapon and take over this land. It's all hopeless. They won, I lost. I might as well just..."

"I know you pretty damn well, Sonic, because I live in your head. You're letting all those emotions get to you. The real you would never say that."

"Well, believe it, this is the real me. You just should've let Chip eat me, because I really hate it here..." He began to walk down the path, Saphfire letting him get ahead of him, and then he started to follow him. "The dark gaia is getting to you. Luckily, we're in Misery, which means you can go to the Pond of Selves and restore your spirits there."

"I don't want to go on this adventure any longer! Do you get that?" he said without turning around. "And why are you following me? Go home! Shoo!"

"So you're quitting? Giving up?"

"Yeah! You heard me!"

Saphfire started to run until he got in front of Sonic, and he blocked his way. "What about your friends in the Outer Realms? I know you have some! Listen to me, Sonic! You're not going to give up, simply because the Disorders got the upper hand! Most people here, and in the Outer Realms, love and care about you! That's not you! I know who you are, now show it to me!" he growled.

Sonic looked down at him and was silent. He thought of his friends. Indeed, Saphfire had a good point. He couldn't stand to lose any of them simply because of what happened a few moments ago. He continued to stare at him, until Saphfire barked, "Come on Sonic, snap out of it!"

He didn't know why he was acting this way. Indeed, this wasn't him. He wasn't one to give up.

"Come on, follow me. I'll take you to the Pond, and we can sort this out, alright? Once you want to take this journey again, I'll help you. As you just saw, I'm a good fighter."

Sonic followed the dog. He looked at the sky and noticed it seemed stitched together.

"Everything's going to be alright, Sonic. Just wait and see."


	20. Chapter 20

As two blue birds with rainbow colors under their wings flew off a nearby glass tree, Sonic and Saphfire continued to walk towards the Pond of Selves. As they were walking, Sonic was left to his own thoughts. He wondered about Saphfire saying that he was depressed due to the "dark gaia entering his system". How was that possible? It couldn't possibly get in his system here too!  
>He began to hear what seemed like a sorrowful song played by a piano. He thought he was hallucinating again. After all, the spider's venom was possibly still in him. He decided to ask the dog a few questions.<br>"Hey, do you hear that? The piano playing in the distance?"  
>The dog's eye turned to look at him. "Yes. There's a beast here that plays music throughout the land. There's a couple of tunes that monster will play that can affect you and the land. There's a song that makes you cry, songs that can change the mountains...the beast is a master of that."<br>Sonic thought he was going to cry again. The song he was listening to was beautiful, nothing he has ever heard before. As he traveled to the pond, he saw that the music was controlling the yellow light in the water, some of it spinning around slowly, some of it drooping down towards him. Sonic did not see his reflection or Saphfire's in the water. He didn't even see the reflection of the glowing flowers as they weaved in the wind. As Sonic stared into it for a few minutes, waiting for something to happen, he turned to look at Saphfire, who was also expectant.  
>"Saph, why am I here? This pond doesn't seem so special, except I can't see my reflection..."<br>"It takes a while. Examine the pond. Feel it with your hands. It will come to you."  
>Sonic began to lower his body to the ground, ready to touch the pond. As he dipped his hands in it, they instantly disappeared, no shadows or remnants appearing in the water. He moved them around, feeling what seemed like another hand. Thousands of hands. Reaching out to touch him. Reaching out to hug him, strangle him, kill him...he was feeling uneasy at the thought.<br>"Hey! What are you doing? Why are you out here?"  
>Sonic yanked back his hand in shock as he saw an angry face that belonged to him glaring at him. As he looked further, he saw another face of his that was bawling.<br>"I...I...want to be there, too..."  
>"Answer my question, damn you!"<br>"I...I don't know. I don't know who you all are supposed to be..." he whispered.  
>"Idiot! This is the Pond of SELVES! We're all a part of you!"<br>He understood it now. All of the faces he was seeing were all of his emotions. All the sides of him. As he looked deeper into the pond, he even saw a childish form of him, staring up.  
>"Jr.? Is that you?" he inquired.<br>He shook his head. "I'm not Jr. I'm you, when you were a kid."  
>The sad version of him sniffled, then said, "Sonic...come inside this world...We got another memory for you..."<br>"If you want to find out why you're here and all that, you might as well come with us!"  
>Sonic lifted his head and turned to gaze at Saphfire, who was nodding that it was okay.<p>

Sonic rose, then he started to walk towards the center of the pond. He was sure the pond was shallow enough for him to stand on, but as soon as he took another step, he sunk like a rock, into one of his memories.

He was standing what seemed to be a house, in a room that was almost completely dark, save for the window that glowed with the white moon and stars. As soon as his eyes adjusted, he saw in the light a small blue hedgehog, who was holding onto a teddy bear, gazing at him. His eyes were also a bright emerald, just like his. He knew that this was him, except much younger.  
>As he stood there, staring at him with innocuous eyes, he was picked up by what seemed like human hands.<br>He seemed very happy and content as he was held by the mysterious figure. From what he could tell, it was a woman, because it appeared as having breasts and what seemed to be red hair.  
>He did not remember who this human woman was. Red hair did not fit the details to any woman he saw except for Eve, but it was impossible that she was the one. He didn't understand why this woman was here either.<br>He then heard an ear-shattering cry. The woman seemed to not give a fight at all as he was grabbed from her. He cried, his face red, wanting to be in her arms again, but he was being taken away, to a place far away.

Before he knew it, he was in a different world. He was now inside a cavern, similar to the one he saw when he last had a flashback. He saw many hooded figures, looking at each other and one of them carrying something in a blanket. He couldn't hear anything they were murmuring for a while, until he heard a, "Brothers, please! Is it really right to take this child away from his chosen mother? For him to fight Robotnik so early?"  
>"Yes, if you don't want to die! I'm sure this child is really the chosen one! One thing we know is that the doctor is not very good with speed. If we use this..."<br>"I just don't feel comfortable with this...is this really right? I feel like we're doing a ritual of Iblis!"  
>Before the other hooded one could speak, another creature whom was wearing a white robe and had one eye that glowed eerily walked slowly towards them, taking the wrapped child in the blanket away from the others.<br>"Although it may not seem right, this is the right thing to do. We may be hurting the child, but sometimes you need to sacrifice."  
>He turned around and faced the jewel. "I know one thing though: there is a great evil force, stronger than Robotnik, out there, somewhere. This child isn't enough to defeat all of these forces. But with all these emeralds, blessed with the power of the gods, and with the chosen one's blood...we can create the controller of the chaos. It shall rest in our domain, with a guardian..."<br>"But what if this backfires? What if something happened to the child? What if..."  
>"We're willing to take risks at this point. We have no other options. If we didn't do anything because we were afraid of the risks, then the only ones we can blame are ourselves..." As he unfolded the blanket, he saw that the child was the same one he had seen earlier: it was him. He was starting to cry, noticing that something was amiss. He felt something very eerie about this situation, and he was missing his "mother".<br>The sounds coming from the other hooded ones died away, the white one wanting silence. Beside him was a pedestal that had several shards of an emerald, along with seven other gems in different colors: the Chaos Emeralds. They gleamed in the sun, and seemed to glow fervently as he spoke.  
>"Seven elements in Mobius, seven bringers of chaos...Earth, Fire, Water, Wind, Light, Dark, and Mind...let this child of the Wind...the chosen one's...life bring the controller of the chaos...His soul, pure and not knowing the darkness that can infest a mind...let him control the chaos!"<br>He swiftly grabbed a shard of the emerald while laying the child in the middle of the pedestal. Sonic had to shut his eyes as the leader boomed words that were completely foreign to him, and pierced the child in both hands.  
>Blood seeped slowly down the pedestal, and so did the chosen one's tears. The leader spread the blood on all of the emeralds, the other gems now glowing as bright as a star. The shards remained there, with the blood stains on each of them, being still.<p>

"Master! I don't think we created the emerald, but something...else." One of the brothers pointed to a thick liquid that was developing at the bottom of the pedestal.  
>The master did not change his facade, looking down at this puddle. The child's cries were lowered when one of the others hurried to him, bandaging the wounds.<br>He wasn't shocked when the puddle began to take form. An amorphous blob was floating in midair, stretching and elongating, as it seemed to give birth to feet.  
>"What's...what's going on, mas-..." The white hooded one's hand hushed him as the blob grew arms and a pink center. As it took shape, he recognized what it was: a brain. As the brain was created, it slowly wavered to its newly formed head, with eyes that seemed to be made from jewels.<br>"What is that thing? Is this...what we pay for performing this..." The other brother was silenced when the beast began to speak.  
>"I am...Chaos. I am everything that chaos is. I am...a being made from the tears and blood from the chosen one. I was given life by you, and Iblis."<br>The white hooded one was silent, as he revealed himself: he was a scarlet echidna with one blind and scarred eye. His one eye stared at Chaos, his yellow eye seeming very calm and cool.  
>"If you want the controller of all the chaos...you have to exchange something else other than the child's blood."<br>"And what would that be?"  
>"You must give your life away to me. In return, I will create the emerald. Although it may not be exactly a Chaos Emerald, it can control and harness the power of all of them. I believe that is something you want, yes?"<br>He nodded. "I will do nearly anything to save us from the tyranny of Robotnik. If it means giving my life away for the better of the island...no, the world...I will do it. I will do it for the good of the Brotherhood..."  
>The creature lowered its head slightly. "Then it's a deal, then? You better speak with your brothers now. "<br>He turned around and faced them. "My brothers...As you can see, I will no longer be your leader. I must give my life away, for the good of the island...and the child.  
>"I shall let my longtime companion, Ix, to be the new leader of the brotherhood. You must listen to his orders from now on...The only other request I have for all of you is to please take care of the child. You must remember that he is the future hope for all of us..."<br>He sunk his head, and closed his eye. "This is all I have to say. You can do with me as you wish, Chaos..."  
>The creature nodded, then as quick as lightning, the echidna was struck by something that pierced through his body. It was an icicle shard, created from Chaos' body, that tore through the core of his heart. As the creature retracted the shard from him, he fell to the earth. He was instantly dead.<p>

The other echidnas hurried to his body, picking him up while the Chaos creature gazed at them. The one echidna that was holding onto the child began to glare, feeling apprehension from this creature. He didn't trust it. There was something sinister about it, something that foretold a dark future.

It was a promise, however, that the Brotherhood would never speak of this again. He was told to keep his mouth shut and never let anyone or the child know about this. Was he to simply just erase this memory from his mind and not warn his villagers of this creature?

Yes. He had no other choice.

As soon as the body was taken away, the creature dissolved into a puddle, vanishing into the ground.

The emerald shards, with the blood smeared on them, began to shake; the other echidnas hurrying to see. As one shard floated in the air, another soon followed, and then several others. They were being collected into the space, being put into place like a jigsaw puzzle. It was until the last few places were filled, that a large emerald was created. Sonic knew that this was the Master Emerald.

He didn't understand much else, however. How did his tears and his blood created Chaos? How was it possible? Why was he involved with this Brotherhood? Why was he a chosen one?

He gasped for air as suddenly he was back on the surface, with Saphfire sitting and looking at him, expecting him to say something.

"So, did you learn anything from that memory?" one of the other sides of him smiled.

He walked away from the water, patting his ears in order to get all the water out. "Well, maybe. That just left me with more questions than answers."

"Like what?" Another one snapped.

"Like...who was that woman? Why am I involved with those people? Why did they need my blood? How did I create..."

"Maybe you'll find those answers later!" They shouted in unison.

"And what did you mean I was filled with dark gaia? I can't possibly be infected with it here too!" he yelled to Saphfire.

Saphfire did not had to speak. He lifted his paw, directing Sonic to the pond.

The pond was now becoming contaminated, as the black liquid was staining the now black water. It seemed as if it was seeping from the sides of the pond, as it gathered towards the center. There was a black glob floating in the middle, thick with liquid and dirt and taking shape as a large serpent with yellow stripes as eyes.

It gave off a tremendous roar, showing its dirty and coal teeth. Fire began to gather at the throat of the beast's mouth, and then suddenly stopped, as the water magically began to become purified and ridding itself of the dark gaia. The beast disintegrated into the air, the pond once again azure and pure.

"What was that all about? So that was...inside me?"

The dog nodded, then added, "This world just produces it and can make you feel negative. And you can also produce it by having something terrible happen to you. I'm guessing that's what happened."

Sonic nodded.

"Now that we got you on the right track again, it would be a good idea to fight the beast in this land. I'm sure you want to collect the last three soul pieces."

Sonic rose, and then looked ahead at the path ahead of him. It seemed to be completely void of any dangers, leading to the white cathedral in the distance.

He still didn't understand what was the point of this adventure, and why he was involved in all of this or how he could have this vast world in his head. But he had to collect the last pieces.

He zipped off down the road, the dog following in a blue blaze.


	21. Chapter 21

The large cathedral gleamed in the red moonlight, appearing as a righteous and imposing palace. It was at the mount of a blue hill surrounded by a field of glowing flowers.

Sonic was silent as he approached the hill. He heard a distant tune that he could assume was being played by the beast, when its tempo became faster and heavier, as if it was slamming its hands on the piano. The hill rumbled, then like a plant undergoing a growth spurt, grew into a mountain that continued to become taller, with many sharp ledges.

"Sonic, if you let that mountain grow, we'll never make it. Let's hurry." Saphfire leaped to the first ledge springing like a mountain goat, using his flames to get higher up, exploding under his feet and launching himself upward.

Sonic dashed and jumped to the ledge, then zipped along the mountain walls, wall kicking quickly and being near Saphfire in seconds. The mountain resumed growing, nearly reaching the stratosphere of Sonic's world. Saphfire burst in a blue blaze, galloping on the sides of the mountain. Sonic followed this, outrunning the burning dog and nearly reaching the top, until he slipped and skidded a few feet back, as the mountain rose a few more.

"Quit fooling around, Sonic! If you..." Saphfire was disrupted by a blue sonicboom, the wind knocking him back.

The mountain stopped its growth when Sonic reached the cathedral, him looking down at the very tired canine as he struggled to get back on his feet.

"You were saying?"

Saphfire shook his head as he reached the peak, saying nothing.

Sonic entered the cathedral alongside the dog, and his eyes adjusted to the bright light of the room.

The cathedral really seemed to be a giant machine, and they were inside a mess of golden gears lining the ceilings and walls, and there where many pathways to the top, which all lead to small black holes that led to another world.

"So can the beast control this whole place with music? And what are all these gears for?"

"Possibly. It's important to pay attention to the tune this beast is playing. And I know what this place is now that I see more of it. To get to the soul piece, we must travel inside this machine and onto the red moon. It's the inner workings of it."

"That doesn't seem to make any..." Then he remembered. Forget logic. This world defied it.

"Anyways Sonic, I would like to talk more about it, but we have to get going." Saphfire ran to the ledge and sprung to the top of it, immediately walking along a piece of thin wood to get to the next platform.

Sonic zoomed towards it and leaped on it, pulling his legs up with his body. As he stood up, he tiptoed onto the thin board, as Saphfire waited, stamping his paw.

"Oh, think I'm slow, huh?" Sonic quickened his pace, running, until the soft music playing in the background got heavier, the board now sporting spikes and rotating.

"Hey! This is like my old days!" Sonic began to slow down, keeping himself on the safe side of the board. As he reached near the end, he jumped on the platform, which began to rumble. Saphfire hurried to the hole, and Sonic crawled inside it after him, as the platform crumbled away to a large set of spikes on the floor.

He was running in a black void with a floating path, that soon turned him upside down in a loop. As he was running, he noticed the music changed, and a shooting star seemed to pursue him relentlessly. As it chased him, it ate up the path behind him. He zoomed ahead, knowing if he slowed down, he would be gone.

He focused on the many loops and wavering paths while a video played in the void, which showed a strange combination of colors and shapes. As he u-turned, producing a green mash of triangles, he knew a small tunnel was approaching. He rolled himself in a ball as a harsh whistle played, the tunnel starting to close. The video began to glow purple, as he went inside and sped out of it, going back into the machine world.

The music began to become more aggressive. A scattered mess of tunes reverberated loudly through the halls, with screams added into it. More platforms began to disappear and float, with many rotors and levers spinning and thundering down quickly. As Sonic analyzed the scene, the floor he was standing on rose. Suddenly he began to float through the gears, as if he was on a carpet ride.

As one gear began to rise, he ducked, avoiding it. Immediately following it was a gear heading towards him sideways. He leaped on it, running towards the end of it, then jumped back to the floor platform. It was suddenly becoming faster, and the gears were moving at a speedier rate, smoke starting to waft from them. Sonic stood still as it went through a small space between the gears, leading to another floor and another hole to the other world. Sonic crept to it as fast as he could, knowing that the floor was going to fade away too.

A high-pitched sound kept on playing in his ears as he darted a straight pathway that broke to another downward spiral. Sonic attempted to ignore the noise as he jumped, curled into a ball, and spiraled to another path that glowed effervescently in a spectrum. He made a sharp u-turn, then the path continued to go in a down spike. As Sonic ran it, the music changed again, as if it was demonic. He was now upside down, running at the bottom of the platform, and jumping to the next one. Seeing a ramp, he once again transformed to a ball and scaled it, going upwards and into another spiral, taking him to the middle of the black space. He was floating as the images began to evolve into a heavenly blue glow, as the beast began to play a haunting melody. He saw a speck of light in the distance, it going towards him almost faster than he can run, now entering the beast's lair.

The wind ruffled his quills as he was now standing on top of the cathedral. It was a white dome that shined like pearls being held up by columns, as many images played in the ceiling. Sonic looked to his left as a black vortex appeared, revealing Saphfire, who was panting. Sonic was silent as he approached the white-dressed figure, who was playing a sorrowful pandemonium.

"Are you the beast of Misery?"

"Don't call me a beast...that's the last thing I need in my life!" The monster's voice sounded electronic, as if it was coming from a machine.

"But you have a part of my soul. Pretty much you are a beast."

"Is that...so?" It slammed its hands on the piano. As it turned around, revealinga humanoid with a very wicked, wide grin. He stared down at Sonic, face unchanging, snickering a little.

Sonic felt very uneasy looking at this creature. Its smile seemed to exude some kind of malice and dark evil, and his eyes didn't seem to hold much purity either. It was until he began to move his hands, a blue ghostly piano emerging from the air, that he began to fold his hands and play it, as the blue keys glowed a brilliant white every time he laid a finger on them.

Sonic and Saphfire were beginning to separate, as the floor changed into discs, moving swiftly away from each other. The rest of the floor crumbled away to a black pit, as black and blue fire erupted from it.

Saphfire's body bursted into a blaze while he snarled, lunging towards the beast. His charge failed, as the musician was guarded by a large blue force field that almost knocked him back to the pit. He shook his head, then sprayed an explosion of blue and white flames from his mouth.

The beast was still safe. The flames didn't even reach the other side of the force field. Once they touched it, they evaporated.

From watching Saphfire's failures, Sonic knew that straight on attacking the creature with brute force wasn't going to work. There was possibly a reason why he separated the floor into small discs. Maybe...

He stepped on one of the discs, making a sound. Saphfire halted his attack as his ears pricked up, hearing it and turning around.

"So I'm guessing you want me to challenge you to a song-playing competition, is that right?" Sonic asked.

The still smirking beast nodded.

Sonic grinned right back. "Alright, let's do this!"

"Sonic, are you sure you can play? I don't remember that being one of your talents..."

"Oh, how hard can it be?"

The creature began to play to the tune of something simple: Mary Had a Little Lamb. It was effortless, and he was quickly done, waiting to hear Sonic's attempt.

He stepped on one disc, thinking about what his next note should be. As soon as his foot landed on another note too slow, it created a screeching static noise, Sonic immediately placing his hands on his ears.

The creature laughed, then his fingers danced to yet another simple tune: Ode to Joy. After what seemed to be a brief second, he once again awaited Sonic's response.

Sonic once again laid some thought to this challenge. He had to move his feet in order to play a note. Of course, quickly when he thought of music, he thought of dancing. Maybe if he had to dance to the music...this was it.

He stepped on one of the discs, slowly, the beast guffawing at his attempt. It was until Sonic moved one of his feet erratically, that he stopped laughing and looked at his opponent with some surprise.

It was also Ode to Joy, except it was more like a remix. He began to move both of his feet, in what seemed to be light speed, to what sounded like an electronic song.

The beast was disgruntled, but he wasn't giving up. He played a melancholic tune, much like the ones played in funerals, many of the piano's keys glowing as he smashed his fingers on them.

The song reminded him of the flashback that played earlier. Him being separated from his "mother" and being used as a sacrifice...he shrugged that off and began to play a much happier version of the song he was playing. Saphfire watched Sonic closely as his feet moved like bullets.

Raining. The entire world was completely black, until the rain began to drench the world and a glowing, colorful butterfly started to flutter to and fro throughout this pit. A blue flower began to grow, and as the rain pelted the ground, so did many other flowers.

Saphfire ignored the music match and focused on this image in his head, wondering what it was all about. He faintly reminisced about this image, but he wasn't sure where it was from.

The beast played faster and faster, but his fingers were starting to hurt. He gleamed at Sonic and pushed his hands against the keys, producing a horrid, vociferous skreak that echoed throughout the cathedral and the land of Misery. His fingers were turning into bloody strips, as if the keys were shredding them. The blood began to reach higher in his body, making him turn almost entirely red. He began to scream from the pain, but he continued to create his music. He was still grinning madly as his skin turned to black and red ribbons, his smile still floating in midair as he disappeared, and so did his music.

The discs were turning to rubble. Both Sonic and Saphfire jumped on each disc, quickly reaching the other side of the cathedral as all of them vanished into the black void below.

There was a large bridge at the end of the cathedral, the red spiky moon on the other side. The bridge was made of wood, and was decorated with various moon-related items. Sonic looked at this sight until he felt something near his hand. It was a gnome-like creature, wearing a ruby-like helmet in the shape of the moon. There was a small opening in the center, him being able to see his tiny, red speck-like eyes. The rest of his body was avian-like, having red feathers and talons. It was holding onto a spear that was curved like the moon, with a green gem at the end of it.

"Who are you, little guy? Are you going to lead me to the next piece of my soul?"

It nodded while making a weird, alien-like noise, turning around and walking forward. Sonic and Saphfire observed this creature for a little while before they began to follow its orders. As Sonic walked behind it, he glanced at the land in the distance.

It was as if there was a hole on his world, as the water transformed into waterfalls and cascaded down to a black void. In the middle of it was a black castle, where a large raven flew towards it. It was No Name's land.

"Hey guy, is that..."

The small soldier ignored his question. He continued to strut straight, towards the moon.

As Sonic and Saphfire finished crossing the seemingly neverending bridge, they pursued the soldier to the top of the moon, revealing a blue gem. Sonic did not contain his patience as he zoomed towards it and grabbed it, once again dousing the world in light.

"Hello Sonic. We meet again, my...friend."

Sonic opened his eyes to reveal a red-haired woman who smiled at him warmly. She was wearing clothes, unlike the other females. Sonic knew that this woman was familiar. In fact, he knew that she was the same woman who nursed him when he was a child.

"Are you...my..."

"Yes. Yes I am. You don't need to say it, Sonic. I was your foster parent when you were young."

Why am I seeing you instead of the...the..."

"Quite simply, Sonic, I am unfortunately...your misery. Your sadness, anyways."

Saphfire looked at him, expecting a response. Sonic gazed at her sorrowfully, saying nothing.

"I am the start of it all. Sure, your mother died during giving birth, but when I took care of you and gave you away to the Brotherhood...that was pretty much what did it."

Sonic's look soon changed to a face of anger. "Why did you gave me away to them? I know the Brotherhood talked about bringing down Eggman and all that, but they later turned into crooks! They wanted to take over the world..."

"They at first weren't bad. How could I know now that they were going to turn into that? They were one of the first resistances brought together back when Eggman was a dictator, and...you were pretty much their only hope."

"And why is that? And who are you, anyways?"

Silence.

"Answer me! Answer me, damn it!"

The light soon faded, and he was back on the moon. The woman was gone, and the Sapphire of Misery was embedded in his mind.

Sonic, being angered by leaving with just more questions, pounded the ground with his fist.

"Sonic, it's all right. I don't really know what I am either," Saphfire quickly responded as he continued to hit the red soil.

"I just don't get it! I know I'm strong...I know I defeated Eggman and saved the world many times...but why all this...why do I have to go through more shit just to find out what this is all about!"

Saphfire shook his head. "I don't know about me either. I'm not even sure why I'm here..."

The soldier tapped the moon with its spear while they were speaking.

"Aren't you supposed to be my rage? And I formed you?"

"Well, supposedly. Supposedly."

Sonic looked towards the distance. Something was flying towards them. It was as if a cloud was moving at the rate of a bullet train.

"Sonic...you still can fly with the wings of Joy, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

A dark creature, in the shape of many clouds, swallowed the moon slowly, leaving Sonic, Saphfire, and the soldier plunging towards the earth.


End file.
